If She Hadn't Jumped
by composingmythoughts
Summary: What would've happened if, that day in La Push, Bella HADN'T jumped from the cliff? This story explores one possibility.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: So I took a little break from writing after Breaking Dawn My Way and this is my new story. Basically, Bella didn't jump off the cliff, and so this story is how things might have played out after that. Enjoy, and please review!!

**Disclaimer**: Not Stephenie Meyer, don't own Twilight, New Moon, etc, or any of it's characters.

Chapter One

I stood rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet, staring at the crashing waves below. I felt the salty spray of the freezing ocean whip against my face. I closed my eyes and leaned forward, preparing to fling myself from the edge of the cliff into the icy water below. I stepped back, preparing myself for a bit of a running start, and began to count to myself.

"One… two…" I opened my eyes and…

…chickened out. Who was I kidding? I could _not_ jump off a cliff! Definitely not without Jacob here for support. I stood watching the water pound against the rocks and sighed. I was all for being stupid and daring lately, but not even stupid, reckless Bella was going to jump off a cliff into mind-numbingly cold water.

"Bella!" I heard Jacob's panicked voice call from behind me. "Don't jump from this height, that'll kill you!"

"Don't worry," I promised him as he ran to my side. "I chickened out."

"Miss 'I crash my motorcycle into trees for a living' chickened out?" he asked, his voice full of shock. I narrowed my eyes at him and he quickly added, "But that's smart! One less trip to the emergency room for us."

I chuckled. "I'm sorry; my stupidity must be costing a fortune in gas."

"That's okay," he replied with a smirk. "We always end up taking _your_ truck anyway."

I laughed, but my mind was already flying in a new direction; choosing not to jump had been a huge step for me. Did this mean I was finally letting – I gasped, trying so hard just to _think _his name – Edward go? I was no longer so desperate to cause my hallucinatory Edward to appear that I was able to stop myself from jumping off the cliff?

Jacob wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. He set his head on top of mine and sighed. "Don't scare me like that, Bells. I can't take anymore stress today."

"Sorry," I said guiltily. "Wait, 'anymore'? Did you find Victoria?" Suddenly, all the fears I had been suppressing came flooding back. "Is there something else wrong?"

"Um, well, no, we didn't find her," he began tentatively. He lifted his head off of mine and looked down at me.

"What is it? Something else is wrong," I said. It was a statement, not a question.

"Yeah, it's Harry Clearwater," Jacob admitted. "He had a heart attack. He doesn't look too good right now; our dads are at the hospital visiting him now, with Leah, Seth, Sam, and Sue."

"Oh no," I moaned. With Victoria and Harry, I didn't need to be stressing him out even more. What if I _had_ jumped? What if I had _died_? What would that have done to Charlie, Jake, and everyone else? "I'm so sorry," I sighed, leaning my head back against his chest and relishing in his warmth.

"Yeah, it sucks," he admitted, gently twirling a strand of my hair. This simple action brought a million new thoughts rushing to my brain, all competing for my attention.

After my big step today in letting _him_ go, maybe now could I be with Jake? Was I willing to give up that part of me again? To let Jake try and fix me? Just because he wasn't _Edward_, that didn't mean that he couldn't be just as perfect for me, right?

"Let's go down to the beach," I suggested. Jake released me, but grabbed my hand, and led me back to my truck. He walked me around to the passenger side and held the door open for me, then proceeded to slide into the driver's seat. He drove my truck back to his house, and from there we walked down to the beach.

We walked along the edge of the water in silence for a while until we came upon our little spot. I sat down on the log and motioned for him to join me. He sat, leaving what seemed to me to be a sizeable space between us. Great, now that I was trying to let him in, he was keeping his distance like I had asked him to.

Once he was settled, I slid myself closer to him, and gently grabbed his hand.

"Jake, I –" I began, but that was as far as I got.

His eyes grew wide with comprehension as to what I was trying to do, and he grinned, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me. It was gentler than I would've expected from him, but it was also warm, and comforting.

"You _were_ implying that we are… that we could… right?" he asked.

I laughed. "Yes. But in the future, it might be good to confirm that fact _before_ you kiss the girl," I grinned at him.

"I don't intend to need that fact for future reference," he said, smiling. "What made you change your mind?"

This question wasn't so easy to answer. Could I do it without divulging just how insane I really was? "Well, I mean… obviously, I like you too," I began.

"I should hope so."

"Yeah and … I guess I've been holding onto something that's not there. _He_," I began, unable to bring myself to use Edward's name with Jake, "left his mark, of course. I thought for so long he'd taken pieces of me, and that I'd never be whole, but I'm not so sure that's true anymore. I think, no, I _know_ I can let him go. I want to give you a chance. You _deserve_ a chance," I finished confidently.

"I'm glad you finally think so," he smiled at me again.

We sat in silence for a while, watching the waves rolling in and out. I don't know how long we sat there, when suddenly we heard a rough voice call to us from down the beach, in the direction of Jake's house.

"Jacob, Bella," Sam called, "He's gone. Charlie and Billy are helping Sue make the arrangements."

The tears began to flow freely down my face, and Jake pulled me close. "We'll all get through this," he assured me, though his voice was pinched, as I could tell he was fighting back tears, too.

Charlie was a zombie over the following days, barely conscious of what he was doing or where he was going. I was so grateful that I hadn't jumped; if something had happened to me, too, I didn't think Charlie would've been able to handle it. I did everything I could for him, but it still was never enough to really fix him. I could finally appreciate how he felt, and the position I had put him in, when Edward left. I did everything I could to comfort him without reminding him of Harry.

At the funeral, I sat between Charlie, and Jacob, holding each of their hands. Jake was warm and comforting to _me,_ and I think my being there was comforting to _Charlie_. At one point, I looked up at him, and his eyes were fixed on my hand and Jacob's, intertwined. He smiled, and then his eyes returned to the front of the church. Okay, so that would be an awkward conversation for us to have, but if it would cheer him up, make him a little less broken, of course I'd take it.

After the funeral, Jake came back with Charlie and I to the house. I decided to make Charlie some comfort food, hoping it would help, and he and Jake watched some sort of sporting even on TV while I cooked. When it was finished, they came in and sat at the table, where I had placed all the dishes off food.

"Smells amazing Bella," Jake said with a smile, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek. I flushed crimson. I still hadn't talked to Charlie yet.

"So, are you two kind of an item now?" Charlie asked, tactful as always.

"Uh, well," I stammered, not exactly sure how to answer.

"Yeah, finally," Jake said grinning at Charlie, and grabbing a hold of my hand.

"Well it's about time," Charlie said, smiling for the first time in days. "You two are great together."

Jake grinned at me again, and then let go of my hand and dug into the food in front of him. He and Charlie inhaled their food as if it were going to disappear any moment, not even pausing to talk. I picked at mine, thinking over the past few days. This relationship with Jake _had_ to be a good thing. It made Jake happy, it made Charlie happy, I'm sure it would make Billy happy, it made _me_ happy… how could something that pleased so many people be bad?

After dinner, Jake decided it was time to head home. I drove him back to La Push, having driven him back to my house after the funeral, and we held hands in the truck. He could've just run home, but Charlie would've questioned why I sent him to walk home to La Push by himself in the rain. On the drive, I realized how much I really did enjoy being with Jake. I knew it from the moment I met him, before I even started dating Edward, but I hadn't allowed myself to realize just how wonderful it could be when Edward was there.

Now, just being here with Jake, no strings attached, no complications, it really was wonderful.

He seemed to be reading my mind. "I missed you," he said quietly, rubbing my hand. "You've been around, but never really _here_. You're actually here mentally now, too, and it's wonderful."

"I'm glad," I said, and really meant it.

He leaned in and kissed me softly. "I'll meet you outside of school tomorrow," he said with a smile. "We can go do something fun after."

"Sounds great," I agreed.

The next couple weeks with Jake were wonderful. It wasn't anything like being with Edward, but it was just as good. In his own way, he was absolutely perfect for me, and now that I was finally completely myself with him, I couldn't believe I'd waited so long to do so.

We did a lot of hanging out down at the beach, or in my living room, but a sudden thought occurred to me one day lounging on our small little love seat.

"We've never gone on a date," I said thoughtfully, studying the pattern of the ceiling.

"Wow, you're right Bells, how did we go this long without one?" he asked.

"Well, there wasn't really anything conventional about the way our relationship began," I admitted.

"We're going to change that," he said resolutely. "Friday night. You, me, dinner and a movie."

"Sounds like a plan," I smiled.

Friday arrived entirely too slowly for my taste, but finally it was here, and I was suddenly nervous. I tried on everything in my closet twice before deciding on a green sweater and the only skirt I owned. I almost wore my favorite blue sweater, but I wasn't ready for that yet; that color still belonged to _him_ in my mind.

He picked me up in his car and we went to Port Angeles. We had dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant, and it was nice to have a date with someone who didn't just_ watch_ me eat. After dinner, we saw a chick flick, and it was actually quite adorable to watch Jake try to lay cheesy date moves on me. He did the whole yawning-wrapping-his-arms-around-me thing, grinning sheepishly all the while. All in all, it was one of the best nights I could remember having in a long time.

He dropped me off and kissed me a little less carefully than he ever had, and bid me a goodnight. I practically floated up the stairs, and into my room. I went inside, shut the door, and spun around to find I wasn't alone.

"Hi, love," Edward said quietly, stepping out of the shadows near my closet and into the moonlight.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed it! **PLEASE REVIEW!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** So thanks for all the reviews! It made me happy to log on to my email and have a page full of emails from fanfiction after only having the story up for an hour :-) you are all wonderful. Okay, so parts of this are taken from New Moon, but not word for word - I felt like Edward might still say VERY similar things, but obviously the situation has changed because she didn't jump... just throwing that out there. Okay, well this story has got me excited, so I will hopefully get the next chapter up soon. You all had wonderful reviews for the first chapter, so do it again!

**Disclaimer**: I am not Stephenie Meyer, and don't own any of this Twilightness.

Chapter Two

"Edward?" I gasped, looking into the eyes I was certain I'd never see again.

He took a step toward me, and at the last possible second I forced myself to _not_ run straight into his arms. Things were different now.

"What's wrong?" he asked, stopping short.

"I… I… what are you doing here?" I stammered, refusing to believe that after all this time and all my hallucinations, he was really here, standing in my room like nothing had changed.

He looked absolutely perfect in every way, hair dripping lightly onto my floor from the heavy rainfall outside. His eyes were the exact perfect shade of ochre that I remembered, and his skin even had a slight shimmer in the moonlight. It took all my strength to remain standing.

"I came back for you," he said, a slightly confused expression on his face. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Where _were_ you?!" I stage-whispered at him, not wanting to wake Charlie.

"Why don't we go somewhere where we can talk," he pressed on, and I realized his eyes were full of desperation. He didn't want to wake Charlie, either. "Let's go back to my house," he offered, taking another step toward me.

"GET AWAY FROM HER," Jacob hissed from the window.

Oh man. Talk about the shit hitting the fan.

"Get out of here you dog," Edward spat at him.

"What's he doing here?" Jacob asked, crossing the room and putting himself between Edward and I.

Crap. Oh crap. I started to hyperventilate; my brain couldn't even process what was happening.

"Get away, look what you're doing to her!" Edward pleaded with Jacob, trying once again to move closer to me.

"Don't make me kill you," Jake threatened, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm not the one that's doing this to her."

"You… ah," Edward said, and a pained look crossed his face. Jacob must've filled him in on our current situation with his thoughts. "You're… together now? I suppose that's quite fair," he whispered, barely audibly. "You had every right to move on… I really did _want_ you to move on…"

Jacob and I watched him pace back and forth in my tiny bedroom, talking to himself.

"Edward?" I asked after a moment.

"I don't like this Bella," he admitted, never taking his eyes off of Jacob. "He'll get you hurt."

"Like you didn't put her life in danger every second you were near her?" Jacob asked incredulously.

"I was – _am_ – stronger than you," Edward insisted. "I may have endangered her life, but I also kept her safe. I never let anything hurt her…"

"What about when Jasper tried to attack her? When James _did_ attack her?" Jake pressed. Edward's eyes flashed to me. Crap.

"Yeah, I told him about that," I admitted.

"Why?" Edward asked, wide-eyed.

"Because, well we're kind of…" I couldn't say those words. Not to _Edward_ when he was finally here, finally _real_.

"We're together now," Jake finished for me, "and when you're in a relationship with someone, you tell them everything. You don't hide things or pretend. You're honest."

"Well, I suppose that's fair," Edward said, finally composing himself. "I wanted you to move on and be happy… and I can see that you have. I admit I had somewhat hoped you hadn't, but it's better for you this way, I'm sure."

"You should go," Jake insisted, releasing me and once more putting himself between Edward and I.

"Yes, perhaps," Edward agreed, and moved to the window. "I'll see you soon, love," he promised, and disappeared out the window.

"Why did you come back?" I asked Jake once I was quite certain Edward was gone.

"Well, with our watch for Victoria, I offered to keep an eye on the house tonight," he said with a shrug. "When I got close, I smelled a vampire, and didn't know who it would be, so I came in."

"What's he doing back here?" I asked aloud, but mostly to myself.

"I dunno," Jake admitted, "but I don't like it. He hurt you so badly… he shouldn't be coming back around here anymore. I won't let him hurt you again."

"I should get some sleep," I mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"Right, of course," he agreed. He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. "Sweet dreams, Bella… I'll be right outside."

He disappeared through my window and left me quite alone in the darkness. I was exhausted, of course, but there was no way I was going to be getting any sleep _now_. I grabbed my shower bag and headed into the bathroom. I took the hottest shower imaginable, barely feeling the heat because my mind was so preoccupied.

Edward was back. He was here, and he was real. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that I was with Jacob. And giving up Edward had been a huge deal for me. It took me months to even be able to _function_ after what he did to me. Jacob fixed me. How could I turn my back on that?

But…_Edward_. Edward! He and I were _meant_ to be, weren't we? Didn't the fact that he came back, even though he'd promised I would never hear from him again, mean something? It had to!

But no. I was with Jake now. I couldn't just throw that away because Edward was back. Edward, who had hurt me more than anyone ever had, who destroyed me so completely that I didn't think I'd ever be whole again… I couldn't go back to that. That wasn't healthy, and I was trying _so_ hard to piece myself back together these days.

I made up my mind: I would stay with Jake. I just had to force myself to resist Edward.

The weekend crawled by as I waited on edge for Edward to reappear. I rehearsed what I was say to him over and over again, desperate to say it right when the time came. Unfortunately, I didn't know when that time would be. He had said, "I'll see you soon." When was "soon"? I had no idea, but I was nervous for when "soon" came.

Somehow, Monday morning rolled around and there was still no sign of Edward. I was happy about that; maybe "soon" would actually come later. After all, time was sort of relative for someone like Edward. Plus, Jake promised to meet me the second school let out, and we were going to do something fun. He hadn't explained what, but regardless, I was excited. I was a bit more reckless around him, and had more fun.

I pulled into my usual parking spot at Forks High, and cut the engine on my truck. I was still self-conscious of the noisy engine, even after all this time. Sure, everyone was used to it by now, but that didn't mean it wasn't still a huge nuisance. I swung my door open but had to pull it quickly closed to avoid hitting the car pulling into the space beside mine. A shiny… silver… oh no.

"Stupid shiny Volvo owner!" I hissed under my breath, jumping out and bee lining toward my first period class. I knew running away was useless, and that he could catch me in an instant, but I still had to try.

"Bella," he said, catching my sleeve and holding me back just inches from the door. Damn. So close.

"What is it," I sighed, turning to face him. I figured if I just let him speak, he'd say what he needed to say and we'd be done.

"We need to talk about this," he said quietly, keeping a firm grip on my arm.

"Fine, but later. I've got class," I said, starting to walk away.

"Me too," he said with a grin, flourishing a paper in front of me. My eyes scanned down his schedule quickly. It was identical to mine.

"What's this?" I asked, gesturing toward the paper.

"It's the schedule we made up at the beginning of the year," he said with a smirk. "When I re-registered at Forks High, they gave me my old schedule back. Shall we?" he asked, putting an arm around my shoulders and leading me off toward the first class.

"Hey, you can't do that anymore," I said weakly, shrugging his arm off. He let it fall behind me, and his smile disappeared.

"Did I hurt you that badly?" he asked, and I could see panic rising in his eyes.

"You don't know the half of it," I mumbled, and sped up a little, hoping he'd keep the slower pace and let me walk alone.

Throughout our morning classes, he kept silent and I was grateful. I could see Jessica out of the corner of my eye, just itching to ask for details, but Edward was never far enough away for her to do so. What was I going to say anyway, that I was with Jake, but Edward being back made me question every feeling I'd ever had? This situation was far too complicated to be explained sufficiently to someone like_ her_.

At lunch, Edward followed me through the lunch line, buying food he would never touch just for show. "Can we talk now?" he whispered as soon as I had paid for my slice of pizza and coke.

"I dunno Edward," I began, praying that I had the resolve to stay faithful to Jacob with Edward here, and _so close_…

"We can go outside, out of ear shot," he insisted.

Out of ear shot? What did that mean? I looked up for the first time in the cafeteria to find literally every pair of eyes in the place focused on Edward and I. Oh crap.

"Fine," I sighed. "But only because I know you're going to talk whether I want you to or not, and I'd rather not have the entire school watching it happen."

"Why don't we sit in the bed of your truck?" he suggested, leading me outside. It wasn't raining, the first day in weeks, but it was still overcast enough for Edward to be out in public. I attempted to hop into the bed of my truck, but failed miserably. Edward caught me inches off the ground, and set me gently down in the back.

"Thanks," I mumbled, but groaned at the sight of my food sitting in the mud.

"Here," he said quietly with a smile, setting his tray in front of me. Pizza and a coke. What, did Alice see me falling into the mud, and so he knew it was coming?

"Okay, speak," I sighed, putting the pizza into my mouth and tearing off a large bite with my teeth.

"Bella, love," he began, but I cut him off.

"Hey, no 'love'," I protested.

His face looked pained. "Please, Bella," he insisted. "Just, let me speak. I thought I was doing what was best for you; in fact, I was certain of it. If I hadn't thought that my leaving was the very best thing for you, I never could've brought myself to do it. As it is, I failed miserably. I couldn't stay away. I got to the point where I missed you so badly, thoughts of you consumed literally every second of my day."

"I…" I began, but I was speechless.

"I can't stay away from you, Bella," he said weakly, dazzling me with his brilliant eyes. "I tried, I swear I tried, but I can't do it."

"Edward, maybe you were right in leaving," I said quietly, staring down at my hands.

"No, I wasn't. I can protect you from Jasper," he insisted quickly, tilting my head up to look at him. "I didn't _need_ to leave when that happened. I could've stayed, could've protected you better, could've saved you from yourself!"

"It's dangerous for me to be around you," I stated firmly, trying to keep the conviction in my voice. I couldn't go back to him; not again.

"I'll change you right now!" he cried desperately. "We can go away together, and I can make you one of us, and we won't have to worry about anything hurting you! It won't be dangerous for me to be around you… we can have _forever_," he promised, whispering into my ear with his melodic voice. It was impossible to resist.

"Edward," I said weakly, on the verge of giving in.

"Bella, love–" he began, but stopped short as a great rumbling sound grew louder.

Jacob squealed around the corner of the parking lot with a sheepish grin. His face fell short when he saw who I was sitting with.

"What the hell is this?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll get the next one up as soon as I can! **REVIEW!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I really hope you guys are enjoying this story, because I'm having so much fun writing it. I'm trying to get as much down as I can over break before I head back to school, because I usually don't have much time for writing when there are so many other distractions. Enjoy, and as always **please review. How quickly I post the next chapter has a DIRECT relationship with how many reviews I receive for the previous chapter!!!! ** just a heads up :)

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Stephenie Meyer, I don't own any of this.

Chapter Three

"Jake," I said helplessly, hopping out of the back of the truck. Naturally, I stumbled out, and Edward caught me and put me upright. "Thanks," I mumbled.

"Get your hands off of her!" Jake bellowed, hopping off his bike and running to my side.

"Relax, pup," Edward said quietly; a crowd had gathered at the cafeteria doors at the sound of Jake's engine, and they were quickly pouring outside.

"What's he doing here?" Jake screamed at me, not bothering to keep his voice down. I could see Jessica and Lauren out of the corner of my eye whispering rapidly to each other. Oh great. Couldn't any part of my life be private?

"Can I help you?" A firm voice asked from nearby. The principal emerged from the cafeteria doors and began to wade his way through the sea of students.

"No, sir, I just stopped by to see Bella, to make sure she's alright," Jacob insisted, stepping forward.

"Oh, yes, uh, Jacob, isn't it? Ms. Swan brought you to the last dance a few weeks back if I remember correctly?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Jake replied.

Edward stared at me incredulously, and I studied the mud patterns on my truck tires. How could I look him in the eye after that? I'd never willingly taken_ him_ to a dance or any normal social function.

"Well," the principal continued, "you know you shouldn't be here during the school day. You can come see Bella when school is out. Now, Ms. Swan, Mr. Cullen, please move on to your next class, you shouldn't be outside and lunch will be ending any moment now."

"Okay," I mumbled, and started to gather my stuff. Edward stacked my books into a neat pile and started to lead me to my next class.

"Don't you touch her," Jake growled at him, watching the principal's retreating back to make sure he didn't overhear.

"I'll see you after school," I promised Jake, and followed Edward to class.

Why now? Why couldn't Edward have come back before I swore I wouldn't take him back? That day on the cliff, what if he had just come back _then_? I'm sure we'd be together and happy… even if Jake might not be.

We sat down at the desk at our next class, with all eyes in the room turned to face us. I flushed crimson, and put my head down.

"Ah," Edward gasped, whispering quietly, "that color suits you. I've missed it."

"Stop, you just have to stop," I mumbled out of the corner of my mouth, refusing to look at him. Suddenly, there was an impatient tap on the desk next to me.

"Um, Bella?"

Oh no. Jessica.

"Yes?" I asked, looking up.

"Well, we have a minute or two before class starts, and um… well, a word?"

She was practically bouncing with excitement. I supposed the news of my choice had to get out somehow, and telling Jessica practically guaranteed that I wouldn't have to repeat it again.

"Sure," I sighed, and allowed her to lead me out the classroom door and into the hallway.

"Oh. My. God. Edward is back! And you're with Jake, right? I mean, they're both totally gorgeous, I don't know how you can even choose, Jake is so build and like, in perfect shape and talk about perfect skin, but like, Edward broke your heart and stuff, but oh my God he's _Edward Cullen_!!" She spat at me, practically one giant run on sentence.

"And?" I said, exasperated.

"AND?! What do you mean 'and'? Who are you going to choose?!" she could barely contain her excitement – you would have thought _she _was choosing between them, and not me.

"Choose? There is no, choosing," I said simply. "I'm with Jake."

"But… EDWARD CULLEN, Bella… Greek God Edward Cullen… how could you choose some kid from the Rez. Over the hottest guy we've seen _EVER_?" she asked.

"You're right. Edward broke my heart. He left, and I promised I'd do whatever I could to make this thing with Jake work," I explained. "Now, we really need to get back into class."

Jessica followed me back in the room, and her expression made it clear that she thought I was completely insane. I returned to my seat next to Edward, but couldn't bring myself to look at him.

"I broke your heart?" he asked incredulously in a whisper I was sure no one else could hear. "Is that really all there is to it? I didn't think _anything_ could separate us Bella… you're my _life, _you always have been."

"I can't do this now," I sighed, opening my notebook and focusing all my attention on the front of the room. I felt his eyes scrutinizing my face for a moment before they too turned forward and focused on the lesson. I looked down to my notebook and, amazingly, Edward had already written three words in his perfect calligraphy.

_After school, then_.

"I'm going with Jake after school," I whispered, never looking in his direction.

Once more, moving so quickly I didn't even see him, he wrote in my notebook again.

_Please Bella, be reasonable. You can't just walk away from all of this. There's so much we need to talk about, and the dog interrupted us at lunch._

"Don't call him 'the dog'," I hissed under my breath. I looked down at my notebook again.

_Please, when can we talk?_

"Um, fine, I'll call you when I leave Jake's later," I gave in with a sigh. I turned to glance at him out of the corner of my eye. He gave one firm nod.

I focused my attention back on the lecture at the front of the room, and prayed that I wasn't going to be making a huge mistake.

After school I walked out to my truck, accompanied by Edward of course, to find Jacob sitting on his motorcycle at the foot of his truck, waiting.

"Goodbye, Bella," Edward said, giving me a significant look and sliding into the Volvo.

I didn't answer but just stared back.

"Hey Bells," Jake said, trying to make his voice light. He pecked me on the cheek. "I thought we could just throw my bike in the back of your truck."

"Okay," I said, smiling and turning my attention back to him. "I'm sorry about this, I really am," I gestured toward Edward, who hadn't pulled out of his parking space yet.

"Is he back for good?" Jake asked quietly, staring him down.

"They've all enrolled in school again, so it would seem so," I sighed. Why wasn't he leaving? They were all there in the car already, just sitting. I accidentally caught his eye; he grinned and it took my breath away.

"Let's go," I said fiercely, jumping into the driver's seat.

"Okay," Jake agreed. "I know how much you like to book shop, so the plan for today was actually a trip out to any bookstore of your choice, on me." He grinned.

"Sounds perfect," I agreed.

"Let's just drop off my bike then; I wouldn't want to leave it just sitting in the back of your truck, especially if we're going to Port Angeles or someplace… I mean, it's supposed to be all touristy and nice, but I've heard sketchy things about that place. And there have been some murders in Seattle, too," he said with a crease in his brow. Oh, he had no idea. My mind flashed back to my previous experiences in Port Angeles, and was glad to have company this time.

I shuddered, and glanced out the window to my left. Edward was still there. He had a pained expression on my face, and I could guess that he had overheard our conversation, and could remember only too clearly what had happened in Port Angeles.

I shook the thought out of my mind, and backed out of my parking space. All the way to La Push, Jake joked casually, but I could tell he was still upset – there was something unnatural about the way he was laughing now, and it didn't suit him.

"Why don't I drive there?" he suggested as he unloaded his bike from the back of my truck. I agreed. I didn't mind driving, but just cuddling up next to him in the cab of my truck and not having to think might be nice.

We started our drive, Jake with one arm on the wheel and the other wrapped tightly around my waist. He was so warm, and I snuggled into his shoulder, absorbing every bit of heat that he could. I stared absentmindedly out the window into the trees, watching them fly by. Suddenly, a flash of blue amidst the sea of green caught my eye; there was someone or something in the woods. Another flash of golden bronze made me realize we weren't alone.

Edward caught my eye, glared at Jake, and then disappeared further into the woods. Apparently, Jake and I weren't the only ones taking a trip to Port Angeles today.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you want to see the next one up right away, then leave me some **reviews!!!** thanks everyone! :-)


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** well, I actually don't have much to say this time! Just read, enjoy, and **review_!!_ I'll try to get the next one up soon. :-)**

**Disclaimer_: _Not Stephenie Meyer, I don't own any Twilight stuff... just playing with her characters a bit.**

Chapter Four

I kept my eyes on the woods for the rest of the drive, but Edward didn't reappear. Apparently, he had wanted to make sure I saw him, and once I did, he stayed out of Jake's sight. So he'd be watching. But what exactly did that entail? I would definitely need to sit down and talk with him without interruptions from Jacob; I just wasn't sure when that could happen. The wolves were keeping a close eye on me at all times – they didn't want any vampires to have an opportunity to come anywhere near me… apparently, this included the Cullens now, too.

I sighed.

"What's the matter, Bells?" Jake asked, rubbing my arm.

"Oh, just a long day," I replied.

"Well, we're almost there," he smiled. "Then you can get lost in your books and forget about the day."

"You're really just going to watch me book shop?" I asked.

"Yup. And I'll enjoy every minute of it," he assured me.

How sweet. Thinking back, watching me shop was significantly less creepy than watching me sleep. Not that I had ever minded having Edward right there all night but still, upon consideration, it wasn't exactly a normal habit. I wondered if I ever would have considered it creepy if he had never left; somehow, I didn't think so.

We pulled up and parked at the boardwalk, and it was total déjà vu for me. I shuddered looking around the familiar streets, and Jake wrapped his arm tightly around me. I wondered where Edward was; he was probably keeping enough of a distance from us so that Jake couldn't tell he was there, but I knew better.

Jacob took my hand and led me down the street to that tiny bookstore I had once neglected to enter a year ago. I looked inside and couldn't help but smile at the sight of that same woman from before smiling from behind the counter at me. I knew I'd find nothing of interest in this store, but it seemed like Jake was really excited to take me here, and he led me inside.

Everything was very new age-y, and nothing at all resembling my usual genre. After some general browsing, I zoned in on a section labeled "Mental Health/Meditation." It seemed like the most innocent section in the store; maybe I could actually find something helpful in here. Given the stress that would surely strike at any moment, where was the harm in preparing myself? I skimmed through a few books until I found something semi-promising, and held it out to Jake.

"How about this one?" I suggested. He snatched it from my hand and skimmed the back cover.

"That's funny, after all the bike accidents, I didn't have you pegged as a 'mental health' kind of girl," he laughed, but seized my hand and led me to the front counter to pay.

'Please, Jake, I can get this," I tried to insist, but he wouldn't hear it; he paid for the book, and even insisted the woman keep the change. Then he led me back out the door and back toward the truck.

"We'll just put your book away, and then why don't we grab some dinner?" he suggested.

"Dinner sounds amazing," I agreed, stomach rumbling. What with all the commotion at lunch, I only had that one bite of pizza, and I was really feeling it now.

"Where would you like to eat?" he asked, leading me once more down the boardwalk.

"Oh no," I insisted, "I made you watch me book shop; you get to pick the restaurant."

"Okay, how about this cute little Italian place, then?" he suggested, leading me toward that very restaurant where Edward and I sat so long ago.

I gulped, but nodded. It was so strange, and I felt like I was slowly but surely defacing every memory Edward and I had; I had told Jake so many things, had him help me find Edward's meadow again, and now I was eating with him in the very same place I had shared with Edward so long ago. My stomach did a back-flip when the waitress led us to the very same _table_ as before.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked, reading my face.

"Oh, just really hungry," I lied, forcing a smile. The waitress went after two cokes, and Jake and I settled into the booth.

"So, Edward," he began, and my eyes grew wide. "I suppose you're going to want to speak with him then?" It looked like bringing up Edward was painful for him, but I just nodded. "I guess that can be arranged," he agreed.

"Jake," I said, placing one hand on top of his, "it's not like I _want_ to talk to him – I think I _need_ to talk to him. I owe it to him."

"Trust me, you don't owe him anything," Jake said, his voice dangerously quiet. "I can remind him of that if necessary."

"No, it won't be necessary," I shook my head. "But in any case, I think some sort of conversation – er, uninterrupted – is necessary."

"Fine," he agreed, but he fell silent. The topic of Edward really put a damper on the evening, especially after I admitted that I told Edward I would call him later on.

After dinner, Jake led me out of the restaurant and down the boardwalk. The sun had just set over the water, and it was gorgeous; not quite dark out yet, but the sun was definitely gone. "Why don't we go for a walk?" he had suggested, wrapping his warm arm around my waist. I could never say no to that heat.

Towards the end of the boardwalk, Jake stopped, turned to me, and kissed me very gently; it was perfect. "Thanks for a great day," he said with a smile.

"No, thank _you_," I amended. "You did everything; all I did was pick out a book." He laughed. "No, seriously," I sighed, "You're way too good for me. I should watch out that some nicer, prettier girl doesn't come along and snatch you up."

"Not gonna happen," he promised, kissing me again.

Suddenly, we became all too aware that we weren't alone.

"Oh hey there," a short, dark-haired man cat-called from nearby. Jake and I turned to see he was accompanied by three friends. Seriously? I was almost certain it was the same four guys as before. Didn't they have anything better to do than hang out in Port Angeles waiting for some unsuspecting girls to come along?

"Can I help you?" Jake asked, moving to stand between the men and myself.

"I think I've seen your girlfriend before," the man said with a smirk, moving still closer to us. Internally, I started to panic. Sure, Jake was inhumanly strong, but there were four of them; he was bound to be occupied by at least two of them, but that left the other two to come after me. I began to back away until I bumped into the railing separating the boardwalk from the water below.

"I won't let them hurt you," Jake promised me as his eyes flashed dangerously.

"Hurt her? Who wants to hurt her? We just want to have a little fun with her," the man said with a laugh.

At that, Jake launched himself forward at the man, and I was right; as soon as he was occupied, two of them lunged for me. I ducked to the ground, covered my head with my arms, and closed my eyes, preparing for the worst. Surprisingly, no one touched me.

I heard a familiar low growl, and opened my eyes to see Edward throwing two of the men, one with each hand, over the railing into the shallow water below. Jake continued to fight off the other two men while Edward scooped me up in his arms and ran off with me. In a matter of seconds we were far away, and I couldn't even tell from which direction we had come; we stood in the middle of a great, green forest with no sign of light to give away our direction.

"Are you alright?" Edward asked in a low voice, examining me all over.

"I'm fine," I said, but my voice shook. As much as I loved and trusted Jake, what would've happened to me if Edward hadn't appeared? His voice infused me with a calm that Jake's just couldn't, and I felt instantly safer with Edward. I also felt absolutely awful upon realizing that.

"You shouldn't be fine," Edward scolded, and pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around me. For a moment, I forgot all about Jake, and just breathed in Edward's scent. It didn't matter that he was ice cold where Jake was my own personal heater, or pale as snow where Jake had beautiful tanned skin. Edward was _here_, and holding me; no amount of self-control could bring me to resist his touch.

He kissed me lightly on the top of the head, and just breathed in the scent of my hair. "I've missed you," he sighed, washing me all over with his scent.

"I missed you too," I whispered, and looked up at him. Once again he was sparkling in the moonlight, and I couldn't resist… I stood up on my tip-toes, reaching my neck up as far as it could go, when…

"Bella!" Jake gasped, emerging from the woods nearby and sliding to a stop. Edward immediately released me, and Jacob enveloped me in his arms. "Oh Bella, are you alright?"

His actions mimicked Edward's; he scoured my body for signs of any sort of trauma before holding me close and kissing the top of my head.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry, I can't believe… I don't know how that happened." He was grief stricken.

"I thought you said you could protect her," Edward spat coldly at him.

"I can," Jake said quickly, eyes wide. "That was… well, unexpected. It won't happen again."

"No it won't," Edward promised, his voice full of malice, "because I won't be leaving you alone with her again."

"Excuse me?" Jacob roared, releasing me and moving toward Edward.

"Please," I cried, stepping between them, "don't fight!"

"Bella, he can't protect you!" Edward cried, gesturing towards Jake. "If I hadn't been here… I shudder to think what would've happened to you!"

I literally shuddered at the thought, and both sets of arms moved to embrace me. I shied away from both.

"Edward, you wanted to talk?" I asked, composing myself. He nodded. "Okay, so Jake, let him take me home; we'll talk on the way."

"I don't think I should leave the two of you alone," Jake said cautiously, eyeing Edward.

"Well, that's not your decision," I said forcefully, trying my best to hold my ground. It must've worked, because he looked taken aback.

"Okay," he sighed, "but I'll be waiting at my house to make sure you're okay. Make sure she comes back there," he instructed Edward.

"How will you…?" I began, but he cut me off.

"I'll just phase and run back," he said, "it won't take me long. You can drive your truck, that'll give you about an hour or so to talk."

I nodded. "I'll see you in a bit," I promised. He leaned down and kissed me, but I didn't really return his enthusiasm. I felt guilty about how close I'd come to kissing Edward.

Edward and I returned to my truck. I headed for the driver's door, but Edward cut me off. "Like I'd allow you to drive after a traumatic event," he said with a sigh. He walked around and held the passenger's door open for me, and I climbed in. He pulled out of the parking space Jacob had chosen and headed back for Forks at 30 miles per hour.

"I thought you liked to drive fast?" I asked skeptically, eyeing the odometer.

"Well, if this car ride is the only time I get alone with you," he said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry about Jake," I said, and I sincerely meant it.

"Bella, do you remember last year, when we first admitted our feelings for each other?" he asked, ignoring my comment about Jake.

"Of course," I replied. As if I would ever forget.

"Well, you may recall that, at that time, I admitted that I was trying desperately to keep you alive. I had never felt more compelled to protect someone in my entire existence." I nodded. "Well, that feeling hasn't changed. I _need_ to protect you Bella. It's clear after tonight that Jacob, no matter how valiant his efforts, cannot do that alone. I can't just leave you in his incapable hands. I _need_ to be nearby; I need to help you, to keep you safe."

"Jake can protect me," I muttered quietly.

"Oh, really? Then why did Alice have a vision of you plunging into the ice cold ocean, of Jacob just barely pulling you out in time, of me calling your house and hearing news of a funeral, and of me flying to Italy and provoking the Volturi to kill me?" he asked.

I gasped. Is that what the future would've held if I had jumped? Edward would've gotten himself killed?

"But I _didn't_ jump," I cried, voice panic-stricken.

"But you could have. You fully intended to, and he couldn't have stopped you. Alice also had numerous visions of you crashing your motorcycle and landing in the hospital," he said. "And those _did_ come true." He winced, tracing one of the many light scars that now lined my forehead.

"That was because I was being reckless and stupid, and you…" I began, but trailed off. I couldn't explain about wanting to hear his voice; that would give him too much hope that there was something left between us, and if he began to hope I could never let him go.

"Regardless," he continued, he didn't keep you safe. I can't leave you with someone who won't keep you safe. Even if you're not... _mine_… anymore; I need to be nearby, to keep you out of harm's way.

"We could be… friends?" I suggested, finally looking into his beautiful eyes for the first time in the truck ride.

"We could never be just friends," he said with a laugh. "You mean far too much to me for that."

"You're probably right," I sighed. "But we could try? If you want to be in my life at all, it has to be as friends."

"I suppose I can try," he agreed.

After that, much of the ride passed in silence. I wasn't sure what to say to him, and I was exhausted.

"Here, lean against me," he offered after watching me stifle one of countless yawns.

I agreed since I was so tired; I fit perfectly into his shoulder, just as I always had. He began to hum my lullaby, and I fell asleep before I was even conscious of it happening.

A light tap on my window startled me awake, and I realized we were back at La Push.

"You're exhausted, let me drive you home," Jake offered, but I refused.

"Nah, I don't want Charlie to worry about how you'll get home. I'll be okay," I promised, sliding into the driver's seat. I didn't know where Edward had gone, but I assumed that the second we arrived at La Push, he ran home.

"Okay, be safe Bells," he said, kissing me on the top of the head. "Call me when you get home."

"Will do," I promised, shifting my truck into reverse.

I drove back to Charlie's house much quicker than Edward had driven me back to La Push; I couldn't wait to curl up into bed and have this day be over with. Soon, I was pulling into the driveway next to Charlie's cruiser, and making my way into the house.

"That you?" Charlie called from the living room.

"Yeah," I sighed, tossing my eyes onto the counter. "You're still up?"

"It's only nine o'clock, Bella," he laughed, coming into the kitchen. "Wow, you look beat."

"Just a long day, I guess," I sighed, eyeing the clock. 9:03. I would've bet anything it was at least 11pm. "I think I'm gonna go straight to bed," I sighed, heading for the stairs.

"Well, wait," he began, "Did you have a good time with Jake?"

"Yeah it was – oh, Jake, I'm supposed to call him!" I said, reaching for the phone.

"Didn't you just leave him?" Charlie asked skeptically.

"Yeah, he just wanted to make sure that I didn't fall asleep at the wheel and hit a tree," I explained, dialing the phone.

I quickly called Jake, explained that I was fine, and headed up to my room. It was amazing I was still walking at all I was so tired.

I grabbed my bathroom stuff and washed my face, brushed my teeth, and changed my clothes. I returned to my room to find Edward sitting in the middle of the bed.

"Edward," I began warningly, but lacking the conviction my voice might've held if I were slightly more awake.

"Do you really want me to go?" he asked, his beautiful voice sounding immeasurably sad.

"No," I sighed, giving in. I climbed into bed beside him and curled up against his cold, hard chest. "Sing me to sleep," I ordered, "but if Jake comes anywhere _near_ this house, you have to get out of here."

"Of course," he agreed, smoothing down my hair. He began to sing quietly, and I breathed in his wonderful scent, falling asleep in seconds.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and, as always more reviews = more motivation to write = chapters up sooner, so **REVIEW**. K thanks :-)


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Sorry about the delay in getting this chapter up - I had a terrifying drive back to school on Sunday and I've been busy with performing and what not ... 3 weeks til I'm home again for Christmas, and hopefully by then my posting frequency will increase! I've got Friday off though, so I'll see what I can do lol... enjoy and, as always **review please_! _:-)**

**Disclaimer_:_ I'm not Stephenie Meyer, I don't own any of the Twilight stuff - just having fun with her characters.**

Chapter Five

I awoke the next morning to find that Edward was still lying beside me.

"Good morning, love," he smiled, kissing me lightly on the forehead.

"This is so wrong," I sighed, grabbing my shower stuff and heading into the bathroom.

"I'll see you at school," he whispered, disappearing through my window.

I got ready for school as quickly as I could, everything a blur. Now that exhaustion played a significantly smaller role in my thought processes, I was overcome with guilt from the previous evening. Allowing Edward to stay had been a horrible mistake. It didn't matter that feelings for him still raged inside me; it wasn't fair to any of us to let him go on thinking he had a chance.

I pulled into the parking lot to find Jessica standing in the middle of the only free parking space left in the lot, looking around expectantly. She spied my truck, flagged me down, and ushered me into the parking space.

"We _have_ to talk!" she gushed as I extracted myself from my truck; the space was actually a little small, since the cars on either side had parked dangerously close to the lines. I had to open my door a few inches and carefully slide out so as not to dent the car next to me.

"About?" I asked with a sigh, gathering my books and heading toward my first class.

"Um, _Edward_ of course!" she squealed.

"Again? I thought we covered that pretty well yesterday. I'm with Jake now."

"Oh Bella, don't be ridiculous… look at the way he _looks_ at you!" she cooed.

I spun around, scanning the crowd; he wasn't hard to spot. He stood near the edge of building four, watching me carefully. Oh for the love of…

"I'm with Jake," I said firmly, stomping off to class. Jessica let me go, but Edward quickly fell into the empty space beside me and followed me to class.

"Now, I must admit I'm a little confused," he began, putting an arm gently around my waist.

"What are you confused about?" I asked, refusing to look at him or even physically acknowledge that there was someone beside me.

"Well, after last night," he began, but I cut him off.

"Forget it. It was a weak moment; I was exhausted, and stressed, and you were there," I explained.

"Jacob could just as easily have been there if you wanted someone," he countered, holding open the classroom door for me.

"I made a _mistake_," I sighed, plopping down into my seat.

"I don't think so," he replied, settling himself down beside me. "Your heart races every time I'm anywhere near you. Your heart skips a beat every time I touch you, or even _speak_," he said, placing a few fingers lightly over my heart. "And don't deny it – I can hear it."

"Just because my physical reaction hasn't changed, that doesn't mean I can't have changed my mind," I stated, brushing his arm away.

"True," he agreed, "but I don't think you have."

"Jake and I are _happy_," I whispered at him; the teacher had just entered the room, wheeling in a TV and the noise in the class had died down significantly.

"I can't imagine that you're as happy with him as you ever were with me," he whispered back. "And I can't leave you alone. I'll be here – waiting, protecting you – every second until you realize that you want me, too. And I'll keep trying; I'm sorry if that's not fair to Jacob, but he took you away from me and I want you back… I don't intend to fight fair to get you back, either."

"He didn't take me from you – you left." I said quietly.

"Leaving was my mistake, but he shouldn't have moved in while I was gone," he said, his eyes flashing angrily.

"He _fixed_ me. You have no idea what it was like when you left."

"Trust me, I do – I've seen it through every pair of eyes but your own. There's no excuse for the pain I put you through, but we're meant to be, and he knows that – it's only a matter of time before you see it too," he whispered.

"Hmmphh." I made a disgruntled noise then laid my head down on my arms and stared straight ahead at the movie.

"I'll always be here," he promised, and settled in to watch the movie as well.

The period reminded me of one of our very first biology classes together. We both sat in silence, but the electricity that flowed between us was almost tangible. By the end of the period I was stiff from sitting so tensely, and Edward laughed at me when I stood and began to stretch.

"I won't make you talk to me in any more classes this morning," he promised, "but please sit with us at lunch; Alice misses you terribly and didn't even get to speak to you at all yesterday with all the commotion."

"Fine," I agreed as we walked out the classroom door.

I gestured that he should proceed to class before me; he chuckled and then walked off to class more gracefully than should be possible. I grumbled following in his wake, managing to trip over my own two feet multiple times on the way there.

After our second period class, Mike caught my arm and grabbed my books.

"Let me carry these," he offered.

"Oh, um, thanks," was all I managed to reply.

"So you and Cullen," he began, trying to sound innocent. "So, that's over then?"

"Yeah, we're not getting back together," I sighed. I was so sure that Jessica would spread the word for me; did Mike really need to come confirm the fact for himself?

"That's too bad," he sighed, voice full of fake sympathy. "But does that mean that this Friday, maybe you and I could…?"

"_I'm with Jake_," I said incredulously. How had he missed that part of the story?

"Oh, well, I heard something about that, but didn't think it was really that serious. After all, he's a lot younger than us, and well I thought maybe he was just some kind of rebound," Mike said with a shrug.

"He's not a rebound," I assured him. "I'm going to be late for class, I should go," I said coldly, grabbing my books out of his hands and heading into my next class. Would it ever sink in that nothing between Mike and I would _ever_ happen?

"So _that's_ why you were laughing," I grumbled, sinking down into my seat that was once again located directly next to Edward.

"Sorry; as much as I hate him, his antics still amuse me," Edward admitted with a laugh.

I tried to pay attention through my next few classes, but it was difficult. As happy as I was at the prospect of seeing Alice once more, I couldn't help but tense up at the thought of eating with Edward, too. I couldn't ever imagine myself getting _over_ Edward, but surely the only way to even attempt such a feat was to keep my distance; unfortunately, separation just wasn't possible with the way my life was going.

I walked into the cafeteria to see Alice, Edward, and Jasper seated at their usual table with four trays of food; Edward already bought me something. He waved me over and I pulled my chair as close to Alice and as far from him as I could get.

"Bella I've missed you!" she cried, hugging me close.

"I missed you too," I said with a smile.

"You must be hungry; here, between these four trays, you can create any combination of food you could possibly want," she said grinning.

"I think I'll take that bagel then, Jasper," I said with a laugh, snatching it off his tray. He didn't return my smile. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Oh, well he's a little on edge about seeing you after what happened," Alice explained. "This is the first time we've seen you since then, more or less."

"Ah," I mused. "Please don't be upset; I'm not. And besides," I laughed, "if you keep this up you're going to kill the moral of the entire cafeteria."

He couldn't help but smile. "It's good to have you back," he replied.

"Bella we _need_ to go shopping," Alice whined, ignoring the exchange between Jasper and I.

"Oh, now that's not really necessary," I argued, taking a bite of my bagel.

"Well sure it is. I just _picked_ your dress last year, but this year I want you to actually come shopping and try stuff _on. _Just shoving a dress on you takes away _so_ much of the fun!" she said and turned to pull something out of her purse. It was stacks of every issue of Cosmo for the past four years.

"Seriously?" I asked, flipping through the pages of one of them.

"We can start with these," she said. "I have every issue ever made in my closet. However, you _will _be trying dresses on, I can promise you that."

I sighed. "And you _definitely _see me trying these dresses on, and attending the Senior Ball?"

"Yes," she said firmly with a nod.

"But Edward made me go to the prom last spring!" I argued. "You never said anything about the Senior Ball being a right of passage as well," I said, elbowing Edward lightly in the ribs.

He chuckled, and said "you really shouldn't miss out on _any _experiences Bella." I realized his arm was wresting lightly on the back of my chair, and my stomach flipped over. We really _couldn't_ just be friends, could we?

"Calm down, Bella," Alice said wide-eyed. "You sound like you're having a heart attack!"

"Sorry," I mumbled, flushing crimson.

"I _know_ Alice," Edward hissed quietly. "It's under control!"

"What? What did I miss?" I asked. "What did you see Alice?"

"Oh, nothing important," she lied, playing with the salad on her tray with her fork.

"Fine. I'm sure I'll find out eventually," I mumbled.

"Yes you will," she agreed, and Edward reached across the table and smacked her upside the head.

"Hey!" she cried, standing and reaching to hit him back.

"Surprised you didn't see that one coming," he grinned, and leaned his chair back on two legs and out of her reach.

"I'll get you later," she promised, and sat back down.

"I wish Stanley's thoughts weren't so _loud_," Edward complained, turning and glaring in Jessica's direction.

"What's she thinking?" I asked, turning as well.

"Nothing of any importance… it's just a little annoying," he admitted. "Hearing my name shouted in someone's head over and over gets old." I raised one eyebrow quizzically. "Well, if you must know," he sighed, "she's debating her chances with me, since you and I are no longer an item. She thinks you may have warmed me up to 'Forks girls' and maybe now she has a shot."

"Can I be there when she asks you out?" I asked excitedly, to which he glared. "It's the least you can do, really, since you tortured me with prom invites _last_ year."

"She won't ask you," Alice retorted confidently. "She'll get up to walk over here multiple times and chicken out. She'll never actually get the question out."

"Darn," I sighed, and returned to my bagel.

"Oh wait Bella, here she comes," Edward said with a grin. We all turned in her direction as she stood up, smoothed her hair and skirt, and began strutting confidently across the cafeteria.

"Dazzle her," I suggested to Edward quietly. He grinned at me, then turned and unleashed his power on Jessica. She froze in place, a terrified expression crossed her face, and she scurried back to her seat.

"You've got to admit she's got guts," Jasper commented, "to attempt to come ask Edward out in _front_ of Bella?"

"Why did she run away?" I asked confused. "Did you scare her? I told you to dazzle her!"

"Oh, I dazzled her," he said with a wicked grin. "As soon as I smiled at her, she thought, '_What the hell am I doing? That's Edward Cullen!! He would never agree to date me, especially not in front of Bella!_' and she ran back to her seat."

"Ah, well… valiant effort," Alice sighed. "She'll try three more times before she gives up. The next time will be right before sixth period starts."

"It's good to have a solid time frame on these things," Edward said with a laugh.

Lunch was significantly less awkward than I had anticipated. Sitting and laughing with the Cullens with no pressure was so far beyond what I expected of our relationship. I didn't think Edward and I could be "just friends" but lunch had me hopeful that maybe I was wrong.

The rest of the day passed without much incident. Jessica did make her other three attempts just as Alice had predicted, the final time getting right up next to Edward and stuttering for 30 seconds before running away.

Edward walked me out to my truck after our last class; since we still had every class together, we figured there was no point in trying to ignore each other. He certainly wasn't going to ignore_ me_, and it would waste so much time and energy for me to try and ignore _him_. Once again, sitting on his bike at the back of my truck was Jake.

"See you later," Edward said quietly, and for once didn't try to push Jake's buttons. I was extremely grateful.

"Hey," Jake said as I approached, and wrapped his arms around me. "I thought we could just watch TV and do our homework today."

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed. He tossed his bike in the back of my truck and hopped in the passenger seat. We went back to my house, grabbed a snack, and settled ourselves in the living room.

After about an hour, I was finished with my homework and Jake was transfixed on whatever TV show happened to be on; I had no idea since I didn't do much TV watching.

"Are you planning to start your homework anytime soon?" I teased.

"I don't have any," he said quietly, never looking away from the TV.

"Ugh, lucky you," I sighed. "You _have_ been going right? Not just running around hunting for… her?"

"Well, no, if you must know… I haven't been to school in a while," he admitted. "I'll go back eventually; this is just much more important right now."

"Are you any closer to finding her, do you think?" I asked with a sigh.

"We don't know, she's been very elusive."

A shiver ran down my spine, and Jake wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. I snuggled into his shoulder and turned my attention to the TV. It was some sort of car repair show; something I could never really be interested in. Instead, my mind wandered, wondering where Victoria was, what she was doing, where _Edward_ was….

I internally scolded myself, and tried once more to watch the TV show. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door.

"I'll be right back," I said to Jake, standing and making my way to the front door.

"Wait!" he said sharply, grabbing my arm. "It's a vampire! Be careful; it smells like one of the Cullens, but I can't be sure."

"It's just _me_," I heard Edward's voice call through the door. My heart skipped a beat. "I heard that," he said with a chuckle.

Jacob scowled, and I wasn't sure whether Edward was referring to my heart or something Jake had been thinking; maybe it was both.

I flung the door open and stood back. "What's up Edward?" I asked, and Jake wrapped an arm around my waist.

"How can we help you?" he added with a little less civility than I would've liked.

"We need to talk," he said, focusing on Jake.

"About?" Jake asked defiantly.

"Victoria," Edward replied. "We just caught wind of her, but couldn't chase her onto your territory. We need to come to some sort of pact with your pack."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! a little more humorous than the others so far... I'll try to get the next one up soon, and remember - the more reviews I receive, the more motivated I am to post the next chapter! :-)


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: sorry if this one took a bit... I've been busy. Fortunately for you all, I think this one may be a bit longer than the other chapters. Enjoy, and please review.

**Disclaimer:** I am not, nor have I ever been, Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter Six

"Is there some place we can all meet?" Jake asked quickly. "It's got to be neutral territory."

Edward described a clearing somewhere in the wilderness of Forks, and Jake agreed to run home and alert his pack.

"Can you stay here and watch Bella until I can send Seth or someone to keep an eye on her?" Jake asked Edward.

"Wait a minute, _watch me_?" I asked incredulously. "I don't think so. I'm coming too."

"Bella," they said in unison with that "be reasonable" tone to their voice. They both stared daggers at each other for a moment.

"No, this is _about _me," I protested. "I'm coming, and that's final."

"Fine, let's go," Jake sighed, holding out a hand to me. I didn't take it.

"How are we going to get there?" I asked.

He looked slightly taken aback. "I figured we'd drive your truck close and then hike in the rest of the way," he said with a shrug.

"I can carry her," Edward suggested. "Then we could all just run there."

Jake looked ready to hit someone and I felt incredibly guilty. "You need to run home to the pack anyway," I mumbled. "I wouldn't be able to find the place myself."

"Fine," Jake said through his teeth, moving out the front door. "I'll see you there shortly. And Bella, we're going to have to have a talk when we leave," he said, shaking his head.

"Wait," I said suddenly, and crossed to the door.

"What," he said impatiently, turning around.

I stood on my tip toes and pecked him on the cheek. "I'll see you soon," I promised. His face lit up, and he nodded. Then he took off into the woods, and was gone.

"Why lead him on?" Edward asked quietly after a moment.

"I would hardly call kissing my boyfriend 'leading him on'," I denied bitterly, but there was a grain of truth to it; if I wasn't doing something wrong, I wouldn't have felt guilty, and felt the need to kiss him goodbye. That didn't mean I was going back to Edward, but I wasn't being fair to Jake.

"I already know –" Edward began, but I cut him off.

"Stop. Whatever you think you have to say about us, I don't want to hear it," I said fiercely. I was so afraid he was right. Had Alice seen something? I was fairly certain that, in the beginning, she had seen me become one of them, but surely so many events had transpired as to skew that future beyond recognition. Surely it couldn't still be true. I also had no way of knowing whether or not he was lying; I didn't think he would ever lie to me, but who could know to what lengths he might go to win me back.

"Fine," he said calmly. "Shall we?" In a very comical manner, he stooped into a piggy back ride position. I rolled my eyes. "Well, if you're not going to get on willingly," he said with a fake sigh; then he grabbed me and flung me smoothly onto his back.

"What if someone sees?" I hissed under my breath, looking around.

"No one," he said with a laugh, but strolled casually to the woods as a precaution. As soon as we were out of sight of the road, he tore off into the trees.

"So," he began casually, "when are you going to break up with Jacob?"

I couldn't believe he would ask me that. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, love," he said skeptically, "I appreciate your effort at being noble, I swear I do, but that won't last."

"How do you know?" I asked stubbornly.

"I can see inside his head," Edward said simply. It felt like someone dropped a giant rock into the pit of my stomach. Jake didn't even love me? My heart raced and my breathing quickened; I was having a panic attack.

"Bella?" Edward asked, alarmed. He stopped suddenly, put me down, and wrapped his arms tightly around me. "What's wrong?" he cried, smoothing down my hair and kissing the top of my head.

"Jake doesn't love me?" I asked, eyes brimming with tears. Edward released me immediately and took a step back, eyes wide with shock.

"Oh Bella, love, no, I didn't mean that!" he said, backtracking quickly. "In fact, there's no doubt in my mind that he absolutely does," he said with a sigh.

"Then what did you mean?" I asked, calming down a bit.

"Only that he hasn't imprinted yet; it's weighing very heavily on his mind almost all of the time. He loves you, and he's terrified to imprint and leave you alone," he explained, "which is why it astounds me to no end that you won't just end it now. They _all _imprint Bella," he said sternly. "I was here many years ago with the old tribe; they might not believe it's very common today, but it is. There wasn't a single wolf that didn't the last time."

"How do you know he hasn't imprinted on me?" I asked stubbornly. "He's very dedicated to me you know…"

"It's not even that I _don't_ know," he began, "though if, he _had _imprinted on you, it would be so sickeningly obvious, and he would never allow you to be alone with me. Also, _he_ knows that he hasn't… he's constantly fighting that battle inside his own mind. He thinks that maybe he can fight it, and won't have to imprint on anyone, but it's not true."

"How do you know?" I asked again.

"I've seen inside everyone else's' head," he said simply. "I can see through the minds of the others that imprinting isn't something to be fought. Sam imprinted on Emily, and as in love with Leah as he was, he let her go immediately."

"You can't be sure," I whispered.

"No, I can't," he agreed, and then added sarcastically, "after all, I _only_ have one hundred years of knowledge on the subject. I could definitely be wrong."

We stood in silence for a moment, just staring at each other.

"Bella, love," he began softly, leaning in.

"Let's go," I said quickly, and began walking in the same direction he'd been running. He sighed, caught up to me, threw me on his back, and took off running once more.

We arrived in the clearing he'd been talking about a minute later. The rest of his family stood looking in our direction awaiting our arrival. The only one who didn't look happy to see me was Rosalie, of course.

"How did you know to come here?" I asked, incredulous.

"I saw Edward throw you on his back and run here," she said with a grin. Suddenly, her face fell. "There's only one thing I don't get," she began, narrowing her eyes.

"What's that?" Esme asked.

"I could only see you after that point," Alice mumbled. "Before Edward picked you up, I couldn't see you. I haven't been able to see much of you – except for brief flashes – since we left." She eyed me quizzically.

"Really?" I asked. "And you were usually so in tune with my future, weren't you?"

"Yes, I _was_," she said with a sigh. "Maybe I'm losing my power?"

"Well," Carlisle interjected, always the voice of reason, "Edward can't hear Bella's thoughts, either; maybe it's not your fault."

"Always the freak," I muttered under my breath.

"Not at all dear," Esme said kindly, pulling me into a gentle hug. "And it's so good to see you! You haven't been to the house since we've been back," she accused sadly. I felt a pang of guilt. Esme was a kind of second mother to me; I should've stopped by to see her.

"Unfortunately, things are different now," I sighed.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

I turned to Edward; his eyes grew wide and he lightly shook his head back and forth. "Well, since Edward and I aren't together anymore," I said, and Edward flinched and turned away from Esme guiltily. She turned her eyes on him briefly before returning to me. "And I'm sort of with Jake now."

"'Sort of'?" Edward quoted back, eyes hopeful.

"I _am_ with Jake now," I amended.

"Oh Edward," Esme sighed, voice full of despair, "Why didn't you tell me? All the nights away, I assumed you've been with Bella!"

"I _have_ been," he confirmed quietly.

"I don't understand," Esme stated, turning back to me.

"It's complicated," I muttered helplessly.

"The future just disappeared again!" Alice moaned, and I was grateful for the interruption.

"They're coming," Edward said, and all the vampires turned simultaneously in one direction, staring into the woods. I followed their gaze, and heard the sound of something huge moving through the trees.

Suddenly, I could see Sam and Jake move out of the forest, flanked by three huge wolves. I shuddered involuntarily, and Edward put an arm protectively around my waist.

"Hey," Jake said to him warningly, and Edward removed his arm with a grimace.

"Now, you wanted to speak with us?" Sam asked, stepping forward as a sort of mediator.

"Yes," Edward said firmly, walking forward to join him. I was left standing among the vampires, and felt another pang of guilt – shouldn't I be standing beside Jake and the wolves? I tried to convince myself that I was only standing among the vampires because it was Edward who had brought me here.

"Bella, might I have a word?" Esme whispered forcefully.

"Now?" I asked.

"Yes. I can be filled in on the details, and where we will be patrolling concerns you, but you don't really _need_ to know," she said.

I would've liked to argue, but the look in her eyes actually had me frightened. I swallowed hard and began to follow her.

"Bella, do I need to come with you?" Jake asked, glaring at Esme.

"Don't be ridiculous," Esme spat, and I was astounded. I'd never seen her so forceful or upset before. "I'd never hurt Bella."

Jake didn't look convince, but regardless he let us go. I followed her at least a hundred yards into the woods; she must've been aiming to be out of earshot of those in the field. Suddenly she turned on me.

"What do you think you're doing?" she accused.

"I don't know what you mean," I stated wide-eyed. I was shocked at how out of character this accusation was for her. For the first time in my life, I was actually _afraid_ of her.

"What you're doing to Edward, it's not right," she said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I'm not doing anything to Edward," I mumbled, staring down at my hands.

"Who are you with, Bella," she said with a sigh, features softening slightly. "Either you are with Edward or you're with Jacob. It's not fair to anyone to keep flip flopping the way you are."

"I'm with Jacob," I said with a sigh.

"Then why are you playing with Edward's heart this way?" she asked.

"I'm not _trying_ to," I said desperately, eyes brimming. "With our history, it's so hard to just let him go, but I'm with Jake now. Edward promised he'd never come back, and it took me _months _to just be able to function again. Then Jake came along, and he kind of fixed me, but now Edward is back and I just don't know," I sighed.

"You have to choose, Bella," Esme said softly, putting an arm around my shoulder.

"I know, and I've chosen Jake," I said resolutely. "I promise I'm working on letting Edward go."

"I don't think you can," Esme said, shaking her head lightly, "but if you're insistent on staying with Jacob, you need to try harder to let Edward go. What you're doing is destroying him; he still thinks that you're coming back to him, and watching him hope that you'll change your mind is too hard for me to bear. When he's not with you, he's just sitting in the house, moping… every single second. If he plays the piano anymore, it's only to play your lullaby. He's barely a shell of what he once was, and I _won't_ let you continue to cause him this pain."

I flinched away from her. "I'll try harder," I promised, tears flowing freely down my face. Suddenly, that familiar gaping hole in my chest reared its ugly head. Edward was finally back, but Esme was forcing me to choose all or nothing. Suddenly, the thought of losing Edward again was too real; I panicked, collapsing to the forest floor, holding myself together and gasping for air.

"Bella!" Esme cried, and fell to the ground beside me. In seconds, we weren't alone.

"Bella, love," Edward said softly, sitting beside me and stroking my hair. "What's wrong?"

Esme gave him a look of warning and shook her head. He looked confused, but apparently her thoughts didn't give me away because he continued to comfort me. Seconds later, Jake was there as well.

"Bella, honey," he said wide-eyed, and scooped me up into his arms. I leaned my head against his chest and sobbed. "What's the matter?"

"Let's go home," I mumbled through my tears.

"Of course," he said, and began walking away with me. I turned to look at Edward; his face was blurry through my tears, but I could still read the bewildered expression it held, and it only made me sob harder.

"Let me run her home," Alice suggested. "You can phase and run beside us."  
Jake scrutinized her for a moment before nodding and handing me gently into her arms. Then he walked into the woods a man, and emerged a second later as a giant brown wolf.

"I don't understand," Edward said, wide-eyed once more. I didn't answer; I just closed my eyes and let Alice take me home.

Charlie wasn't there, so Alice brought me right straight into the living room and set me down on the couch. "I'll see you in school," she said softly before heading back toward the door.

"Wait!" I called desperately, eyes still streaming with tears, "tell me how this ends!"

"That's not the way it works," she said sadly, before disappearing through the door.

Jake was beside me in an instant. "What did that mean?" he asked.

"Nothing," I muttered, and curled up against him. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and kissed the top of my head. Slowly but surely, my sobbing subsided, and I could breathe normally again.

"There we are," Jake said with a smile, kissing me gently. "I hate to see you frown."

"Sorry," I sighed, but his enthusiasm got to me. With Edward around so much lately, I had sort of forgotten that Jake was my own personal sun, but there was no denying it now; he grinned at me, and I couldn't help but beam back at him.

He leaned in to kiss me, and it was by far the best kiss we've ever had. He was warm and gentle, and it was incredibly comforting. It was also nice to be able to completely lose control of myself with someone and not have potentially dire consequences. In no time, we were completely absorbed and, to be perfectly honest, getting pretty PG-13 on the couch. After a while, as Jake pulled back for air and grinned, Charlie came bursting through the door.

"Hey kids!" he grinned, not even upset to find us horizontal on the couch. "Billy just called and we're having a bonfire down at the beach. Let's go!"

Mood lightened significantly, I hopped up off the couch, grabbed my jacket, and headed for the truck with Jake. Some more light-hearted time with my Quileute friends was exactly what I needed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed - please review, I love them.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **i had a lot of fun writing this chapter ... enjoy! and review :-)

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Stephenie Meyer, I don't own any of the books or the characters - I'm just having fun with them

Chapter Seven

Charlie decided to bring the cruiser, too, so that we could leave separately. As we got closer to the reservation, we could see that the smoke from the fire was already billowing over the tree line. I parked my truck in front of Jake's house and we strolled hand in hand down to the beach. It seemed that just about everyone was down sitting around the fire – Billy, Charlie, the Clearwaters, Sam, Emily, Quil, Embry – all of my favorite human beings were there.

"Bella," Billy said warmly, extending his arms toward me. I went over and gave him a hug and he beamed at me. "I hope you brought your appetite, we've got enough food to feed an army; even after the boys eat, there should be plenty left over."

"I'm starving," I said with a smile, and Jake led me down to the fire. It was a driftwood fire, and I sat mesmerized by the colors. I sat between Jake's legs and leaned back against his chest; he was the perfect pillow – solid, yet warm. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I was perfectly content to stay there forever, never moving.

Emily came walking down from the houses with Sam; both their arms were piled high with food, plates, and utensils. I could see Quil and Embry not far behind, carrying food as well.

"That's a lot of food," I said wide-eyed.

"Well, with the way these boys eat," Billy laughed.

"We're doing the whole 'spear it on a stick and roast it' thing," Quil explained, setting down his pile on a blanket that was laid out for such a purpose. "Grab a branch, a hot dog, and go to town."

I started to get up to grab a branch, but Charlie put a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "You're always cooking for me Bells," he said with a laugh, "Now it's my turn to cook for you!"

"Are you sure you can handle something other than eggs?" I teased, but snuggled back down into Jake's arms. Charlie stuck out his tongue at me.

"You cooking for me too?" Jake asked, and gestured that clearly he was in no position to be moving.

"I might as well," Charlie laughed again, and set to work spearing a bunch of hot dogs on one stick.

"This should be interesting," I said, smirking at Charlie.

"These hot dogs will be roasted to perfection," he said confidently; as he was turning to talk to us, he didn't notice that his stick had dipped down and the hot dogs were now resting in the fire. Three of them caught fire and turned black. "You like them well done, right?" he asked sheepishly.

The bon fire was one of the most relaxing experiences I had had in quite a while. It was nice to just relax with Jake without Edward there pushing his buttons. Jake was the most light-hearted I had seen him in weeks, and his enthusiasm was intoxicating; I couldn't stop smiling the entire evening. We sat around the fire for hours, with everyone swapping jokes and stories, and roasting anything they could find that could be speared onto a stick.

As the hour grew later and later, people slowly began to drift away until everyone was gone except for Quil, Embry, Charlie, Billy, Jake, and I.

"Wow, it's getting late," Charlie said with a yawn, stretching and giving me a meaningful look. "I think I'm gonna head on home."

"Yeah, me too," Billy agreed. "Charlie, you wanna give me a hand on up to the house?"

"You got it," Charlie agreed. He rose and began pushing Billy up the uneven ground to the house. "Don't stay out to late, Bells," he called behind him.

"I'll be home in a bit," I promised.

Once the adults had all gone, Quil and Embry began to torture Jake by telling dirty jokes; they knew he'd want to join in, but that he'd never do so in front of me. I just laughed at the jokes, but Jake flushed scarlet.

"It's nice to see someone _else_ blushing for a change," I laughed, elbowing him in the ribs teasingly.

"I'm not blushing," he denied, "but I bet I could make _you_ blush in a second."

"Don't you dare," I warned, but I was laughing too. I just couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" Jake suggested, rising and pulling me to my feet. "We'll be right back," he said to Quil and Embry.

"Sure, sure," Quil remarked. "They're going to stroll off down the beach and fine somewhere to make out." He smirked at Jake and he and Embry exchanged a high five.

"Oh ha ha," Jake said sarcastically. He grabbed my hand and led me away from the fire.

"What's wrong?" I asked. His face had grown much too serious since he had risen.

"Bella, can we talk about Edward?" he asked. Oh crap. I probably should've seen this coming.

"What about?" I asked, swallowing hard.

"Do you still love him?" he asked quickly, taking the Band-Aid approach. For a moment, I had no idea how to answer.

"It's complicated," I mumbled, though I knew that was no where near a sufficient answer.

"It shouldn't be," Jake remarked quietly.

"Well, you know our history," I said helplessly, staring at my feet.

"So that's a yes, then?" he asked.

"Isn't it possible that I love you both?" I asked. He scoffed at me. "I don't know that I'll ever truly be _over_ Edward," I admitted after a moment of silence. "Words can't even express the relationship we had. But that's over now. However, just because I'm committed to being with you now, that doesn't mean that all my feelings for him have completely disappeared."

"Bella, hun," he said with a sigh, tilting my head up with his hand so that I was looking into his eyes; during my little speech, I had been staring down at my shoes. "Can't you see how much better I am for you? I'm not cold and hard like he is; I'll never break your heart like that, or do anything to hurt you! I mean, come on, I can even go out in the sun! With me, you don't _have_ to be stuck in Forks forever just for my sake – we could move to Hawaii if you wanted, and just sit in the sun all day! I would _never_ leave you," he promised softly.

"Until you imprint," I mumbled.

"That's not a guarantee," he countered. "Not everyone imprints, it doesn't _have_ to happen."

"Edward said that the last time they were here, _every_ wolf imprinted. He said it's been sort of lost through the generations of story telling, but that it _does_ happen to everyone," I argued.

"And Edward is right about _everything_?" He asked angrily, dropping my hand.

"Oh, Jake, no!" I cried, trying to backtrack.

"Maybe you should just go be with your statue then, clearly you prefer him to me," he spat, and started to storm away from me down the beach.

"Jake," I called helplessly, and my eyes brimmed with tears.

"What?" he said angrily, turning back to face me.

Suddenly, I heard a quiet jingling sound.

"Where's that coming from?" I wondered aloud. It sounded like it was coming from _me_, so I began checking my pockets. In one of them, I found a tiny silver phone.

"I didn't know you had a cell phone," Jake commented suspiciously.

"I don't," I replied, staring at it. "This is Edward's phone."

"How did it get in your pocket?" he asked harshly.

"He must've stuck it there so he could call me," I said with a shrug and flipped it open. The caller ID said "home". "Hello?" I answered.

"Bella?" I heard Edward's frantic voice on the other end. "Where are you, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said quickly, pacing down the beach. "I'm down at La Push; we had a bon fire… what's wrong?" I had never heard him sound so panicked before.

"There's no time to explain," he said quickly. "I'm coming down there, treaty or not."

"Edward, what's going on?" I asked, tears flowing freely now. "Tell me what's happening!"

"It's just… Alice saw something," he said. His voice sounded extremely frustrated. "I'll be there soon, just stay where you are," he said quickly, and I heard a click as the line disconnected.

"What's going on?" Jake asked, coming back to stand by my side. Angry as he was, he wrapped his arms around me protectively, and smoothed down my hair.

"I don't know," I replied, sobbing against his chest. "Edward is on his way, he said Alice saw something and he's coming down here, treaty or not."

"Typical," he spat. "Quil, Embry!" he called down the beach. "Get over here!"

A minute later the two of them appeared, jogging toward us. "What's up?" Embry asked as they got closer.

"Cullen is coming down here," Jake replied angrily.

"Ah," Embry said, and we all waited in tense silence for a moment.

Suddenly, all three sets of eyes grew wide. "Vampires," Quil said suddenly.

"Well, yeah, Edward's on his way," I said. I didn't understand why it was a surprise for them.

"No, not the Cullens," Jake said, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

"Then who?" I asked, terrified. Victoria? Had she finally come for me?

All three boys turned to face down the beach in the opposite direction of the fire. Suddenly, I could make out the outline of five dark figures moving toward us quickly. Five? There were only four of us, and I wouldn't even count myself useful in a fight, so that made three.

"I won't let anything hurt you," Jake whispered quickly, stepping in front of me to shield me from those coming.

I wanted to believe him, but there was no way the three of them could fight five vampires and keep me out of harms way. In the blink of an eye, the three boys before me vanished, and were replaced with giant wolves. I stepped back, certain that this was the end.

As the vampires came closer, I could see that there were three males and two females, but I didn't recognize any of them; Victoria wasn't among them. Was I really so much of a danger magnet that an entirely different clan of vampires was coming after me tonight? They didn't seem surprised by the appearance of the wolves, so I assumed that they must have _something_ to do with Victoria.

The vampires stopped about 15 feet down the beach from the wolves and stared for a moment; then they all sprang forward at once. I sank down to the ground on my knees, closed my eyes, and covered my head. I prayed that whatever was coming next would be quick and relatively painless. I felt a pair of cold, hard arms wrap around me and pick me up; I was being carried somewhere. It was comforting to know I wouldn't be dying that second, but also terrifying to consider what else might be in store for me.

"Open your eyes," a melodic voice commanded, and I was overjoyed to find that it was _Edward_ holding me; I was safe­. ­

"What's happening?" I sobbed. He kissed my forehead lightly. "Is everyone okay? What's going on?"

"Everyone is going to be fine," he said softly. "Everything is okay now."

Against my better judgment, I wrapped my arms tightly around him and buried my face into his shoulder.

"It's okay," he said soothingly, and I couldn't help but grow calm from his touch.

I looked up at him, and he stared down at me with his beautiful eyes, black though they were, and I was instantly dazzled. Once again, I found myself unable to resist him, and I stood on my toes, craning my neck toward him. He bent down slowly and kissed me softly. At that point, I could no longer control myself; I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him closer; he returned the kiss almost as enthusiastically.

"Ahem," I heard from behind me, and quickly pulled away guiltily. It was Emmett. "This situation is under control now," he said quietly. "We're burning the pieces."

"Good," Edward replied, and led me back down out of the forest to the beach.

"It was lucky they were having a bon fire tonight," Emmett remarked, and I saw that our once colorful fire was now billowing great purple smoke. "It made it much easier to take them down with an already-made fire."

"You brought Emmett too?" I asked.

"And Jasper," Edward replied, and I saw Jasper walk around the fire; he had been hidden behind the smoke. "Good thing it's so late; explaining why we have a purple fire on La Push lands might've been difficult to explain."

"So what happened?" I asked softly, staring at the fire.

"I'd like to know the same thing," Jake asked, reappearing in a pair of mesh shorts from the direction of his house. "I ran home for clothes when we were done," he added with a shrug.

"Are you okay?" I asked, rushing to his side.

"Yeah, just a scratch or two, but they're almost healed already," he said nonchalantly.

"Did Alice see them coming?" I asked turning back to the vampires.

"Um, not exactly," Edward replied quietly. "Alice is fairly certain that the wolves are the reason she could never see your future before," he explained. "She thinks that she isn't able to see them at all, so your future disappears whenever you are with them."

"Well, if she couldn't see me, then how did she know you needed to come?" I asked.

"Um, you see," Edward began, looking uncomfortable.

"Just spit it out," Jake said angrily.

"Calm down," Edward said venomously. "I don't want to upset her."

"Well keeping her in the dark isn't going to make it any better!" Jake yelled back.

"Just tell me," I said with a sigh. Jake was right; the longer Edward made me wait, the more anxious I got.

"Well, Alice saw your funeral," he finally said, barely above a whisper.

"My what?" I asked, wide-eyed. My breathing quickened, and my eyes brimmed with tears.

"This is why I didn't want to say," Edward said, moving toward me, but Jake wrapped his arms around me first.

"It's okay hunny," he said softly.

"She saw your funeral," Edward continued, "but didn't know what caused it. I didn't know how much time I had, so I came down here immediately; as luck would have it, we were just in time."

"We could've handled it," Jake said defiantly.

"No, you couldn't," Edward replied. "Alice saw her funeral because the three of you could not have taken on the five of them without Bella getting hurt. You might've been okay, but she would've died. And that is why I'm no longer going to let her out of my sight."

"Excuse me?!" Jake roared, releasing me and moving toward Edward.

"You may have the best of intentions," Edward began coolly, "but you aren't capable of keeping her safe. Until this situation with Victoria blows over, Bella isn't leaving my sight."

"Bella??" Jake said fiercely, turning back to me. He actually frightened me quite a bit.

"I don't want to die," I said helplessly, tears streaming down my face.

Jake's expression immediately softened, and he came back to hug me. Then he turned back on Edward. "You promise you'll keep her alive?" he asked quietly.

"You have my word," Edward replied. "I would _never_ let anything harm her."

"Then fine… you can be around. As long as you don't do anything funny," he added.

"I'd like to go home now," I said quietly.

"Of course," Jake said. "But I think we should all meet in the morning to discuss this."

"Agreed," Edward said. "Now Bella, let me take you home."

I waved goodbye to Jake, Emmett, Jasper, Quil, and Embry, and headed back toward my truck with Edward.

"I'll drive," he suggested, holding open the passenger door for me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! take a second to review, please :-)


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Wow, so it's been forever and I apologize! School get's crazy. Well, it's still Christmas for about 9 more minutes, so here's a Christmas present for you all! It's a little bit longer than most of the other chapters. I'm on break now, so hopefully I'll be posting chapters regularly again. Enjoy and please review!

**Disclaimer**: I'm not Stephenie Meyer, I don't own Twilight, New Moon, etc.

Chapter Eight

Why was my life always so much more complicated than I could even imagine? I stared absentmindedly out the window as Edward drove my truck back towards Forks. Was peace and quiet, _one_ love, and a normal life really so much to ask? Apparently so.

Edward seemed to read the anxiety on my face, and he grabbed my hand lightly from where it was resting on the seat beside me. I sighed.

"It's been a long night," Edward agreed, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb lightly.

"Is it never going to end?" I asked suddenly, and felt my eyes brimming over again.

"Oh Bella, love!" he moaned. He let go of my hand and instead wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close. "We'll figure out exactly what's going on and deal with it," he promised. "You're safe now; I won't let you out of my sight."

"So you're going to just _watch_ me every second until this is over?" I cried, my panicked voice jumping an octave in the process.

"Yes, of course; until you're safe again," he said soothingly.

I was much too exhausted to argue so instead I just leaned against his shoulder and closed my eyes. It seemed like only seconds later, we were pulling into the driveway beside Charlie's cruiser.

"So you're staying?" I asked as calmly as possible. I was trying to reel in my emotions; if Charlie still happened to be awake waiting for me, I would need to fool him.

"Of course," he said softly, brushing his fingers gently down my cheek.

"Okay," I said with a small nod, and turned for the door. I was careful when shutting and locking it, but the dark first floor of the house made it clear that Charlie was already in bed. Fortunately, this left me free to fall to pieces uninterrupted.

I moved quickly up the stairs and into my room; I had to stifle a scream when I turned to find someone was already sitting on my bed.

"You're unusually jumpy," Edward commented. "Even after all you've been through tonight, my presence shouldn't have been so shocking."

"I'm pretty sure Jacob assumed you'd be staying _outside_," I mumbled. Suddenly, the need to fall to pieces was no longer there. Since Edward was here, and apparently staying the night, and all feelings of panic were gone. I gathered my pajamas and turned for the door.

"I'm pretty sure he shouldn't _assume_ things," Edward countered, flashing me my favorite grin.

"I'll be right back," I sighed. For whatever reason, I was so sure he would stay outside; _I_ shouldn't assume things, either.

I hopped into the hot shower, feeling shaken enough to desire the hot water to calm me down. Of course, Edward would be perfect for that as well, but I couldn't give in. Once I had cleaned myself up, dressed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth, I headed back to my room.

He hadn't moved an inch. He patted the bed beside him gently, beckoning me to join him. I sighed and plopped down beside him.

"You really shouldn't stay _in_ here," I said softly with no conviction to my voice. Who was I trying to kid? I didn't want him to leave.

"Not leaving my sight," he repeated from earlier. I sighed, and pulled back the covers.

"Whatever. Goodnight." He chuckled softly, and wrapped his arms around me. "Edward," I said warningly.

"Bella, love, be reasonable," he began, his tone light. "You can't honestly mean that you would have me go."

"I'm with Jake," I reminded him for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"That kiss in the woods today seemed to imply that you're _not_," he said, raising one eyebrow at me.

"That – I – ugh!" I groaned. Of course he would bring that up.

"Yes?" he asked, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I let my guard down," I muttered, knowing it wasn't true. Having him here, and so close, reminded me of the relief that had swept through me when I realized he was there, and I was safe, even though vampires were once again threatening my life. I never really felt that sense of security with Jake.

"Bella, love," he said, and stared deeply into my eyes. That was all it took.

I threw my arms around him, pulling him as tightly to me as I could manage. This was different than the other kisses I had bestowed upon him since his return; I had regretted those. They made me feel extremely guilty, and I wished I hadn't done them. This one was different. I never wanted to stop. I knew, from the second I began, that all pretenses were over; Edward was who I wanted. Even though the bond between Jacob and I was ridiculously strong, it was nothing compared to what I shared with Edward. I had been so reluctant to let him back in after the way he hurt me, so desperate to give Jake his chance, but I couldn't help it; this was stronger than fate. I assumed that the way the wolves felt when they imprinted was a watered down version of the way I felt when I looked at Edward; nothing could compare.

He pulled away from me for a moment. "Are you sure?" he asked, eyes wide with concern.

"Yes," I sighed. "I hate that I am, it makes me a really terrible person, but what can I say: I want _you_."

"You're not a terrible person," he objected, kissing my forehead. "You are a terribly _noble_ person."

"I don't see how," I mumbled.

"We're meant to be together, Bella," he said with a sigh. "I came back when you had found someone new, and you tried to make that work for _him_. However, you and I, this is not something we're in control of. We both fought it for as long as we could, but there wasn't any way we could win that battle."

"Then why do I _feel_ so terrible," I mumbled, laying my forehead against his chest.

"You're not," he promised, kissing the top of my head.

"I'm exhausted," I sighed. I didn't realize just how true this statement was until I was lying here in Edward's arms, exactly where I wanted to be.

Seeing how close to sleep I was, he grabbed the afghan from the end of my bed and wrapped it around me before pulling me close so that I wouldn't be cold.

"I've missed you so much," I mumbled against his chest, inches from sleep.

"I love you," he whispered in response, and began humming my lullaby.

I awoke slightly cold, and very disoriented. For a minute, I couldn't even remember what day it was. Once I looked into Edward's smiling face, I remembered everything; all the crazy events that had transpired in the past 24 hours, ending with me giving into my feelings for Edward. I had quite the mess to deal with now.

"Charlie is waiting for you to wake up before he leaves to go fishing," Edward whispered quietly. "I'll see you down there in a minute."

I was still a little too disoriented to really understand what he was saying, so I just rolled out of bed and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning Bells," Charlie said cheerfully as I threw together a bowl of cereal. "Some bon fire last night, huh?"

He didn't know the half of it.

Suddenly, there was a light knock on the door.

"Who could that be? Maybe Jake's joining us for breakfast?" Charlie asked enthusiastically, moving toward the door. I somehow didn't think so, and felt a pang of guilt in my stomach.

"Good morning, Charlie," I heard Edward's velvety voice greet my father from the front hall.

"Edward?" Charlie asked, and I could just picture his eyes raking the hallway for his gun belt.

"Can I come in?" Edward asked pleasantly.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie growled in his most accusatory tone.

"I was hoping I might be able to speak with Bella," Edward said calmly, despite the homicidal thoughts I was _sure_ he was hearing in my father's head right now.

"Bella," Charlie called, and I heard him moving down the hall back toward the kitchen, "you have a …_visitor._"

"Uh, morning Edward," I said awkwardly, refusing to lift my eyes from my cereal. Edward sat down in the chair beside me and smiled.

"So what are you doing here?" Charlie asked again, staring Edward down. I assumed he meant in our kitchen this morning, but Edward must've heard the true meaning to the question in his head.

"My mother didn't really enjoy LA," he explained. "She much prefers the small town life, and my father was more than happy to oblige her."

"What a shame you kids had to move again," he said, but even I could tell he didn't really mean it. "It's too bad you couldn't have just finished out the school year down there before going off to college."

I rolled my eyes, and Charlie shot me a warning look. I became immersed in studying my cereal once more.

"We don't mind," Edward said with a wince, but quickly turned it into a polite smile. What was that about? "We all missed our friends here in Forks, anyway."

Charlie made an indiscernible noise and refused to meet Edward's eyes. The awkwardness was almost too much for me to handle, and I wondered what horrible things Edward was hearing in Charlie's head to make him wince in pain like that.

"Uh dad, weren't you going fishing this morning?" I asked quickly.

"Hmm, did I tell you about that?" he asked. Oops. I guess not. Edward must have. "Well, yeah, Billy's been itching to do some serious deep-sea fishing," he admitted. "He borrowed a boat and everything. I wanted to let you know before I took off, but I guess I already told you," he muttered. "You gonna be okay here if I leave?" he asked seriously, eyes on Edward.

"I'll be fine," I promised, trying my best to look encouraging. "You go have fun with Billy."

"I'll probably see you in La Push with Jake later, right?" he asked, giving Edward a meaningful look.

"Uh, yeah, maybe," I muttered. "I've got a lot of work to do today though."

"Oh, yeah, okay, better get to it then," he said authoritatively, staring once more at Edward. "I wouldn't want you to be distracted and not get your work done."

"I'm okay Dad," I promised, "now go fishing."

"Bye Bells," he said, grabbing his fishing gear and heading out the door.

"That situation is going to take some resolving," Edward muttered, brow furrowed. He sat down in the chair next to mine. "So how are you this morning?" he asked seriously, turning to me.

"I'm fine," I said through a mouthful of cereal. I swallowed hard. "So do you have to have a meeting with the wolves now? You know, after yesterday?" I asked.

"You shouldn't be," he said seriously, ignoring my question. "You never did have the correct reactions to things; five vampires tried to kill you last night, and you're perfectly fine. I _wish_ I could see inside your head."

"Yeah, yeah, my brain doesn't function properly, I got it," I muttered. Edward laughed. "Now, answer my question."

"Yes, we're meeting with the wolves this morning," he said. "I would insist upon leaving you here, but I can't be in two places at once, so you may as well come along."

"When?"

"About an hour," Edward said.

I got ready at a pretty leisurely pace; I had showered the night before, so I didn't need much time to get ready. The most irritating part was how Edward followed me room to room, watching me brush my teeth and my hair, wash my dishes, and clean up. I had to insist that he leave me alone for a minute while I dressed and used the bathroom; that would be crossing the line for _anyone_.

"Nearly ready?" he asked as I emerged from the bathroom.

"Yeah, just shoes," I said, placing my pajamas back on my bed.

"Let me help you," he offered with a grin, scooping me up and flying down the stairs. He set me down on the chair at the kitchen table, ran after my shoes, and had them both on my feet and tied in seconds.

"I'm not _that_ slow," I muttered, rising to my feet. He was already holding out my jacket for me to put my arms through.

"Of course not," he said with a smile, "I'd just like to get there on time."

We walked to the back of the property and into the woods; a few feet in, Edward threw me on his back and began running as usual.

"So when are you going to dump Jacob?" he asked casually, never breaking stride.

"What??" I exclaimed, taken aback by his bluntness.

"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that last night," Edward began turning and giving me a meaningful look.

"Watch where you're running!" I shouted at him. "And, yes, I suppose you're right… I can't live without you." He beamed at my words. "But that doesn't mean I can just drop everything I have with him. That would crush him."

"You can't string him along forever, either, love," he said softly.

"I know I just… it's not the right time," I said firmly.

"Why not? Now is as good a time as any," Edward muttered, not looking at me.

"Well, the pack is under a lot of stress right now," I explained. "Last night at the bon fire, it turns out they're up to _ten_ now."

"_TEN_?" Edward shouted, skidding to a halt.

"Yeah, it happened pretty suddenly, probably because of everything that's been happening." I explained.

"Who," Edward said, his voice hard, and his fingers pressed to the bridge of his nose.

"Um, well there's Sam, Jared, Paul, Jake, Quil, Embry, Seth, Leah, I think Colin and… shoot, there's one more, I don't remember his name," I said. "A few of them are really young, like thirteen or fourteen."

"Ten wolves," Edward repeated to himself. "They were holding out on us."

Oops. "You mean you didn't hear it in any of their thoughts, they didn't tell you?" I asked.

"No."

Crap. I couldn't help but feel like I'd just betrayed my friends. Sure, I had already done that in choosing Edward over Jake last night, but this was different; I was the middleman between two feuding families, and I had inadvertently failed to remain neutral.

"So what exactly is this meeting about?" I asked, trying to distract him. He began running again.

"Jasper has a few theories about what is going on," he explained. "He feels like the wolves should be informed so that we can better work as a team. However, if you would just break up with Jacob, involving them might not be necessary at all, and we could just handle it ourselves."

"I'm not breaking up with him yet," I said with a sigh.

"Well, we can talk about that later if you don't want him to overhear," Edward said quietly. "We're almost there, and I don't think you'd want him to find out _this_ way."

"No, definitely not," I agreed.

"Then let's keep up the façade, shall we?" he whispered, and I could hear disapproval in his tone.

"I'm sorry," I muttered as he placed me lightly on my feet and stepped away, putting about a foot of space between us.

"Bella," Jake breathed, rushing to my side.

"Hi Jake," I murmured, trying my best not to sound too guilty.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked, wrapping his arms tightly around me.

"Oh, you know," I muttered, staring at the ground.

"We'll solve this," he promised, and kissed me lightly.

"If everyone's here, we should get started," Carlisle announced quietly.

Jake was the only wolf in human form; the rest stood gathered around as wolves, huge and menacing. All ten of them were here now. Apparently, they weren't keeping their numbers from the Cullen's anymore.

Edward stepped forward and began to speak. "Thank you for meeting us today. I realize that my actions last night should have voided our treaty, but I did exactly what was necessary to save Bella's life. The only part of the treaty I interfered with was crossing onto your land, but surely this can be overlooked based on the fact that I saved her life?"

"While I insist we could've handled it, Sam seems to think you're right," Jake grumbled, "so no breach of treaty."

"Excellent," Carlisle said warmly.

"With that matter sorted out, Jasper has some ideas about what could potentially be going on here," Edward said.

Jasper stepped forward and began addressing the wolves as if he were giving a formal business presentation.

"Now, I have some experience with newborn armies," he began, and Jake cut him off.

"_What_ armies??" he asked, shocked.

"Newborns," Jasper said once more. "It used to be very common for strong vampires to bite and convert people into newborn vampires to create armies for territorial disputes. Newborns are initially much stronger than other vampires; what they lack in skill, they make up for in strength. I can give you more details later, if you wish," Jasper said, as Jake had opened his mouth to interject once more. "I have reason to believe that someone has created a newborn army, and that is what is terrorizing Seattle. Likewise, I believe it was newborns that attacked last night." A grumble rang through the wolves. "All the signs are there, and we believe it may be Victoria sending newborns after Bella."

"I tracked her to the south this past fall, and that's where she likely would've gotten the idea for a newborn army," Edward added.

He had been _tracking Victoria_? I felt sick at the thought, and sank to my knees on the spot.

"Bella??" half a dozen concerned voices asked at once.

"I'm fine," I gasped, wrapping my arms around my knees. "Please, just continue."

Edward took a step toward me, but stepped back quickly at a look from Jake.

"If Victoria is creating a newborn army," Edward continued, keeping his eyes on me all the while, "we think it might be in all of our best interests to redraw our boundary lines."

Once more, snarls ripped through the line of wolves.

"Temporarily, of course," Carlisle added hastily. "We were actually considering dropping the restrictions altogether until the situation is under control. We could, of course, still remain distant from the reservation, if you wish, but trying to maintain the boundary between our two grounds has seemed to cause more trouble than it has prevented."

"Absolutely not," Jacob hissed at Carlisle.

"Sam is willing to negotiate," Edward countered. Jacob glared daggers at him, but Edward continued. "He is willing to allow for overlap between the two territories, five miles or so on either side, but asks that we do stay at least a mile away from their reservation, or anywhere Quileute residents might be."

"We accept those terms," Carlisle said, smiling at Sam. "Shall we shake on it?" he asked, turning to Jake. Jake backed away.

"Sam says he trusts us not to breach the treaty, and that, for now, a hand shake isn't necessary," Edward replied. "He isn't sure he can ask that much of Jacob's self control right now."

"Very well," Carlisle said calmly. "Jasper is going to be training us to fight newborns, starting tonight," Carlisle explained. "If you wish to learn how they fight, you're welcome to join us – we'll be doing it right in this field."

There seemed to be a murmur of consensus among the wolves: they were all eagerly nodding their heads up and down.

"I'll take you home," Edward said quietly, and walked toward me.

"Wait!" Jake said angrily, "did you want to come over today?"

"I'm kind of tired," I said with a shrug, "I didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh," Jake said, looking slightly taken aback. "Okay, no problem, go rest up. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"After school?" I asked.

"Bella, love, tomorrow starts our spring break," Edward whispered.

"Oh, seriously?" I asked. I seemed to lose all sense of time these days.

"Get back!" Edward shouted, suddenly pushing me away. I wasn't sure what was going on at first, but then I looked at Jake: he was shaking so bad, I was amazed he hadn't phased yet. "You'll hurt her!"

Jake gritted his teeth for one long, tense moment until his temper was under control.

"Duly noted," Edward murmured at him.

"Noted what?" I asked, voice shaking. I had no idea what had just happened.

"Just take her home," Jake growled, turning away from us. "I'll call you later Bella," he said through his teeth while looking back over his shoulder.

"Bye Jake," I mumbled, so confused as to what had just happened.

"Come on," Edward said, pulling me onto his back.

Once we were a safe distance into the woods, I asked Edward what had happened to make Jake lose his temper like that.

"Oh, he didn't like that I called you 'love'," Edward said indifferently.

"That made him lose his temper _that_ badly?" I asked, shocked. I had seen Jake keep his cool in much more stressful situations.

"You'd be surprised at some of the things in his head, love," Edward said sadly. "Now, did you really need to get more sleep? You really slept quite well last night, actually… unless that was an excuse to not spend the day with Jacob?" he asked, flashing me my favorite crooked smile.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed! just a **NOTE**: I am writing this with the assumption that anyone reading has, in fact, read Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, at least, so I'm skimming over a LOT of the new born army discussion sort of stuff - let's just assume that one night Jasper and Bella had story time at the Cullen's house and got all the info out then - I mentioned it a bit, and please fill in the rest yourselves - or brush up on New Moon/Eclipse if any of that sounds strangely unfamiliar to you.

As always, thanks so much for reading and please review!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: Okay, this is where it starts getting interesting. Just a disclaimer, my story is going to begin to run into Stephenie Meyer's version - there were certain events I thought could change, but some things that inevitably will not. That being said, I'm throwing it out there RIGHT NOW: you are GOING to recognize things. My plan is that, at the end of this story, Breaking Dawn would be able to take over without missing a beat. Either my version or the real version, whichever you prefer haha. I just wanted to make sure I said that because some things will be very much the same, and I just chose to reword them a little. Conversations and events that are familiar to you ARE so because Stephenie Meyer already wrote and published them. I just thought it would be fun to write a side story in the middle that twists its way back to the original plot.

**Disclaimer**: I'm not Stephenie Meyer and I don't own any of the Twilight Saga stuff... just playing with it.

Chapter Nine

"I really _could_ use another hour or so of sleep," I yawned as Edward ran me back toward my house.

"Really?" he asked. "You slept pretty soundly last night."

"Yeah, I'm still a bit tired though… near death experiences tend to take their toll on me," I said lightly. Edward scowled. "I don't really want to sleep though. Perhaps we could do something else."

"Did you want to get anything done around the house first? I'd hate for you to feel guilty about lying to Jacob later," Edward said seriously.

"Ah, maybe I better," I gave in. There was no way to completely avoid feeling guilty; however, maybe if I actually got something done like I said I was going to, I wouldn't feel _quite_ so terrible later.

We walked back into the house and I surveyed for what I could do. "Why don't you do some laundry," Edward suggested, "and I'll clean."

"Deal," I agreed, and headed upstairs. My laundry really did need to be done, and Edward could clean much faster than I could. I gathered all of my clothes and Charlie's, and went to put a load in.

"The kitchen and living room are clean," I heard Edward's velvety voice call from what sounded like the bathroom. For a moment, I was incredibly embarrassed at the thought of Edward cleaning up the mess I had made in the bathroom, but upon reflection I realized that he probably wouldn't care in the slightest, and so I refused to let it bother me.

Once a load had been started, I returned to the living room to find Edward sitting in the center of the sofa, looking completely at ease. "The whole house is clean now," he said with a grin. "I even folded the clothes you threw all over the place in your room."

"Well, at least Charlie will believe that I stayed home and cleaned all day," I muttered. "That's about how long it would've taken me by myself." I settled down on the couch beside him. "So, what now?"

"Well," Edward began, intertwining his fingers with mine and setting them lightly in his lap. "I did hope that we could discuss a rather serious matter. So we are now together, correct?"

"Correct," I sighed.

"And you _want_ to be together, correct?" he asked.

"You have _no idea_ how much," I agreed.

"I think I probably have a clue," he said with a smile. "It's only a fraction of how much I want to be with _you_."

"Ughh!" I moaned, exasperated.

"What's the matter?" he asked quickly, and he dropped my hands. Maybe he thought he had crushed them or something.

"I _wish _you could see inside my head!" I cried. He seemed to understand the direction I had taken and relaxed. "I can't imagine that anything in the world could compare with how much you mean to me – not even how much I mean to _you_."

"We'll never agree on this, so we might as well continue for now," he said with a smile. "Now, it's clear we won't be able to part from each other again. At least I won't."

"I won't either," I breathed.

"So I'm going to keep putting your life in danger as long as your heart keeps beating," he said furrowing his brow.

"'heart keeps beating'…?" I repeated, catching the key words of that sentence.

"Yes… as much as I hate the idea of changing you – not because I don't want to keep you forever, of course, but only because of my concern for your soul – I see no reasonable end to this scenario except to do just that. Making you immortal seems to be the only way I'll ever be able to _keep_ you," he said with a sigh.

"You mean it?" I whispered, eyes growing wide. "You'll really make me one of you?"

"On one condition," he said firmly.

"Anything but time," I whispered again, "just name your price."

"Well, yes, I figured once I proposed the idea, there would be no convincing you to add more time," he sighed. "But anyway, my one condition. Marry me first."

My heart began to beat erratically, and my stomach felt like it was full of rocks. The idea of marriage terrified me; I didn't want to be that young 18-year-old girl who married straight out of high school! What would everyone say?

I swallowed hard. "That's your… _only_ condition?" I asked.

"Yes."

"What if I changed my mind… what if I decided I was okay with giving you more time?" I asked.

"Marriage is my condition, Bella," he said seriously. "I don't care about time anymore – just this. And please calm down; the speed of your heart is making me nervous. You sound like you're having a heart attack."

I had to think for a moment. On the one hand, there were so many bad connotations with marriage… divorce, rumors; people would think it was a shotgun wedding. On the other hand, I seriously doubted those rumors could _ever_ come true, so it would eventually become clear that was not the reason. As for divorce, well, it was clear that would never happen to Edward and I. Suddenly, the only thing standing in my way was potential disappointment from my parents, particularly Renee. I could deal with that though, right? Slowly, my breathing and my heart rate returned to normal, and my panic subsided. Edward smiled warmly at me.

"Well?" he asked.

"I guess marrying you wouldn't be the most awful thing in the world," I said with a smile.

"Come on," he said, his grin stretching from ear to ear. He pulled me off the sofa and dragged me out the front door and toward the woods. In seconds, I went from sitting on my sofa to flying through the woods on Edward's back.

"Where are we going?" I asked breathlessly.

"My house," he said.

I had never experienced Edward running quite this fast; it made me a little dizzy, but the knowledge that I was going to be making him mine _forever_ made me so giddy I had to contain myself to keep from laughing aloud. We arrived at the Cullen house in no time at all; instead of walking through the front door, Edward cut around to the back of the house and leapt directly into his third story window that was already sitting ajar.

"We could've taken the stairs," I mumbled, unable to hide the hint of a smile in my voice. He set me down and beamed at me. "So what are we doing?" I asked.

"Sit," he instructed softly, gesturing toward his leather sofa. I did as I was told. Edward crossed the room to a small end table, opened the top drawer and reached inside. I craned my neck to see what he was reaching for, but I was sidetracked at the sound of Edward's bedroom door slamming hard into the wall behind it and leaving a dent.

"Oh my gosh!" Alice ran in screaming, running to Edward's side. "I can't believe it, I want to watch!!"

I assumed Alice had seen me agree to his proposal, but I wasn't sure what she wanted to watch now.

"No," Edward growled. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever heard, but Alice wasn't fazed.

"Please oh please oh please!" she moaned, grabbing Edward by the wrists and rocking his arms back and forth. "When am I ever going to get to see it again?!"

"Go watch it in you head," he growled again, pushing her toward the door and slamming it shut behind her.

"What was that about?" I asked, startled by the whole transaction.

"Sometimes Alice doesn't understand when people want personal space," he said, but he was smiling now. I heard a "hmmph" from Alice behind the door and chuckled. "You can come in when I'm _done_," he said with a sigh, giving in. This time, I heard Alice squeal.

"Done with what?" I asked, turning back to Edward.

He grinned my favorite crooked smile, and came to stand in front of me. He lowered himself down onto one knee, and I realized he was holding a tiny black box in his hands. Oh my God. Suddenly, the pieces all clicked. But hadn't he already proposed?

"I want to do this the proper way," he said, reading the expression on my face. "Please humor me."

"Isabella Marie Swan, will you marry me?"

Even though I had already agreed, somehow it was unbelievably difficult to force that one word out of my mouth. "Yes," I whispered, tears brimming in my eyes.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" I heard Alice screaming as the bedroom door flew open and she came dashing in once more. Edward quickly slipped the most gorgeous ring I had ever seen onto my finger (**A/N: We all know what it looks like, so I'm skipping the description)** as Alice scooped us both into her arms and hugged us tight.

"Alice," I gasped quickly as her arms all but crushed my ribs.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Bella!" she said quickly backing away. "I was just so excited, and I was hugging you both at the same time, and oh my gosh can I please do the details for your wedding??"

"Alice let her breath," Edward warned. "This is all very sudden; don't throw a million things at her at once."

"Of course not," Alice agreed quickly. "I'm going to go work on your dress!" she squealed, beaming at me. She turned and ran from the room.

"My dress?" I croaked out. Suddenly it was all too real.

"Don't worry love," Edward said quietly. "We can go get married in Vegas if you'd like… just the two of us."

"Don't even_ think_ about it!" Alice roared from below, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"I couldn't do that," I sighed. "Renee, Charlie, and everyone else deserve to be there… it could be the last time I ever see them."

"It doesn't have to be," he said seriously. "We'll figure it out."  
I nodded and began to slip the ring off my finger. Edward raised an eyebrow at me. "Technically, I'm still dating Jake," I said, and felt a fresh wave of guilt. This was the first time I'd considered his feelings. I would need to break up with him and then give it some time before I could even make the engagement official. And now that the promise of immortality was so close, I really wanted it before my nineteenth birthday. I wasn't giving myself much time to play with. I sighed once more.

"You need to end that soon," Edward said softly, but didn't press the issue. He just sank down onto the seat beside me and wrapped both his arms around me. He kissed me softly, and the reaction it stirred in me kept us occupied for the rest of the afternoon, except when various members of his family came in to offer their congratulations. I made them all promise to keep it quiet until things were official, and they were all more than happy to oblige. Alice was more that elated at the knowledge that not only did she get to plan my wedding (and be my maid of honor) but I would be becoming one of them, and her sister, soon.

As the afternoon wore on, my guilt about Jacob just continued to increase. "Maybe I should go spend some time with him," I would repeat uncertainly. Edward always made it clear that I was free to do whatever I wanted to, but somehow I couldn't manage to pull myself away from his arms to go do it. As it grew closer to five, my stomach began to growl and I couldn't fight it anymore.

"Go have dinner with Jacob," Edward finally said with a sigh. "We don't have much human food in the house at the moment, and I don't want you to go hungry."

"Alright," I agreed, "Just let me give him a call."

Edward handed me his tiny silver phone and I dialed the Black's house. Billy answered.

"Hi Bella, what can I do for you?" he asked warmly.

"Is Jake around?" I asked.

"I think he's out in the garage, let me holler at him," Billy said, and set the phone down. I heard the muffled sound of Jake's name, and then the announcement that I was on the phone.

"Hey Bella," Jacob said a little too coldly for my liking into the phone. "How was your day?"

"I got the whole house cleaned, and some laundry done," I said. "Pretty boring stuff." No need to add that it was Edward who had cleaned the whole house in seconds.

"Oh… yeah, I've just been tuning up the Rabbit," he said, his voice beginning to lighten up.

"So, I was gonna head down there for dinner, if that's okay?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Jake said warmly. "But what about the bloodsucker? I thought he wasn't letting you leave his sight."

"Oh, um…" I began, turning to Edward.

"I'll sit at the Quileute border and wait until you're done," he whispered.

"He's gonna let me go for a little while," I laughed.

"Excellent. He's going to bring you I assume?" he asked.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Okay, I'll meet you at the border then. See you soon," he said, and I heard the phone click.

"We'll take the Volvo this time," Edward said, standing and walking toward the door.

"Is it here?" I asked. We had done so much running all over the place lately, I couldn't even remember the last time I'd seen the car.

"Yes, it's down in the garage."

I could tell from his tone that he didn't like the idea of leaving me alone with Jake, even if it was only for an hour or so.

"I'll be okay," I promised. "And I'll try to figure out how to end things uh, _nicely_," I added.

He nodded once.

Edward drove me to the border between the Quileute and Cullen lands. When we arrived Jake was already there sitting in his car waiting. Edward stopped the Volvo and put it into park; he began getting out of the car.

"Edward, what are you…?" I began, but he shushed me.

"I'd like a word with Jacob," he said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes… don't worry, I'm not doing anything rash," he insisted, walking forward.

Jake hopped out of the Rabbit and started toward us. Suddenly, I began to panic. How was I supposed to handle this situation? Surely I couldn't go kiss Jacob in front of Edward, my – I cringed mentally on thinking the word – _fiancé_, but wouldn't Jake expect that, at _least_, from his girlfriend? The weight of exactly what I was doing hit me. I stopped about a foot from Jacob, wrapped my arms tightly around me, and looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Jacob," Edward said formally, nodding his head. Jacob did little to acknowledge Edward's presence. Edward pressed on. "While I don't foresee anything terrible happening in the next few hours, I will be staying in this exact spot regardless, until Bella is back with me and safe once more."

"Fine," Jake said, and turned back for the car.

"Bye," I said weakly to Edward, and turned to follow Jake. He grabbed my hand lightly, barely holding onto it, and led me back to the Rabbit. I asked if everything was okay, but he just barely mumbled a response and sighed.

The drive back to La Push was incredibly awkward. Surely, some of it was my fault; I was thinking about the best way to handle things, and that had me a little occupied. However, Jake was to blame, too. He wasn't _my_ Jake, he was _Sam's_ Jake; furrowed brow, scowling, generally unhappy. I would've liked to press the issue, but I was afraid of upsetting him further; we already seemed to be on dangerous ground.

"Let's go for a walk," he suggested as we pulled up to the house. I wholeheartedly agreed; if I was going to attempt to end things, having Billy near by for an audience would be more than mortifying.

As we strolled down the beach, Jake once again held my hand very loosely and sighed. Was it possible he was heading the same direction I was? Once we were long out of hearing distance from the house, Jake stopped short and turned to me.

"Bella, I'm in love with you," he said simply. "Absolutely, one hundred percent, head over heels in love with you. And you're in love with me too. You know you are."

"I," I began weakly, unsure of what to say.

"Obviously you're in love with Edward, too," he continued as if I hadn't said anything at all. "Now, that sucks for me, but it's true. It sucks for you, too, because now you need to choose. You can't keep stringing us both along; it's not fair to anyone. In love with both of us though you might be, _you need to choose_." He carefully articulated the last four words, as if trying to force their meaning to sink in.

"Jacob, I–" I began, but was cut off once more.

"I won't cut you in half anymore."

I was shocked, and couldn't seem to find _any_ words to express how I was feeling. I looked up at him helplessly, my face a torn mess.

"That's what I thought," he sighed. "You're going to go back to him. He'll _hurt_ you again! I'm so much better for you, so much healthier; I can't _make_ you choose me, but you can be damn sure that I'll fight for you."

Suddenly, I found my voice. "Jake, you're going to imprint someday, and this thing between Edward and I, it's not something I can fight. I imagine imprinting for you is something like the relationship Edward and I have. It's an unstoppable force of nature. I love you Jake, I really do, but I don't know that I can _be_ with you, either. I can't imagine life without either of you, but being away from Edward… it's _painful_. You remember how I … I was, _before_… I can't fight that."

"You could, if you realized how in love with me you really are," he said, denying my statement. "But you just don't realize it yet. Like I said, I'll fight for you, and you can be sure I won't fight fair."

"I wish you wouldn't," I sighed. "Can't you just be my _best_ friend? Can't that be enough?"

"Not when I want so much more," he said, shaking his head. We stood in silence for another moment, not sure of what to say. "I'll let you get back to Edward," he sighed. "I guess we're broken up now, but with any luck you'll remember that you hate the cold and come back to me." Amazingly, he smiled.

Jacob was far too good for me; I didn't deserve someone like him. Of course, I thought the same thing about Edward, but was not willing to release my hold on him, no matter how much I felt he could do so much better than _me_.

"I guess this changes the whole situation with Victoria," I mumbled. "The Cullens are probably going to need to rethink their game plan, if it's just the seven of them now." I shuddered. It was painful to imagine the seven of them going up against twenty something newborn vampires and coming out unscathed. The thought made my stomach hurt.

"Not at all," Jake insisted. "There will be bloodsuckers reeking havoc on Forks soon; you can bet we'll be there to fight them. This was never _just _about you Bella."

"I was afraid of that," I sighed, but on the inside, relief swept through me. The wolves would still help – the Cullens were so much better matched with their help. I was glad the situation between Jake and I wouldn't be affecting that outcome.

"I'll take you back," Jake said, throwing an arm loosely around my shoulders. I looked up at him and raised one eyebrow. "Just because you're – temporarily – not mine, doesn't mean I'm not going to start fighting _right now_," he insisted.

I was still so in awe of the fact that our breakup had gone so smoothly, I didn't press the issue or insist he remove his arm.

Once we reached the border, we found Edward's car sitting in the exact same spot as before – he hadn't moved an inch. Jake came around to my side of the car and opened my door, reaching in a hand to help me out. He shut my door behind me and then, suddenly, swept me off my feet into a dizzying, something-from-the-movies kiss. I was totally caught off guard but this sudden, passionate kiss from my now ex-boyfriend. He had never once kissed me like _this_ through the entire course of our relationship.

"Goodbye kiss," he said with a grin, setting me back on my feet.

I looked to Edward sitting behind the wheel of the Volvo, expression hard and eyes cold. "That was mean," I reprimanded Jake.

"Not fighting fair," he repeated once more.

"See you later Jake," I sighed. "I'm going to _make_ Edward take me to the training session later."

"Excellent," he agreed. "Bye Bells."

As I made my way back to Edward, he got out of the car and met me at the line. "Two can play that game," he said in a hushed voice, and he too swept me off my feet into a passionate kiss. For Jake's sake, I tried to control myself and not kiss back as passionately as I would've liked.

He set me back on my feet and had to hold me steady; my head was spinning. "You're mean, too," I sighed, trying to keep a level head.

"I won't fight fair, either," he too said with a grin.

I turned back to Jake, and felt like I had been stabbed in the stomach; his expression was one of deep despair. Witnessing the kiss had been too much for him. He began to shake violently, and Edward instinctively pulled me back behind him.

"Get in the car," he hissed, crouching low into a defensive stance. I didn't think it was necessary, but did as he asked anyway.

I watched Jake convulse from the safety of the Volvo, waiting for the moment when the shaking would cease and he would regain control. That moment never came. Instead, I saw him kick his shoes off just seconds before shreds of fabric flew through the air and there was a great russet wolf standing in the middle of the road where my best friend had once been.

"Edward!" I moaned, wishing he would get in the car with me and just leave. I knew he heard me, but Edward didn't acknowledge my plea. Instead, he walked forward to join Jacob in the center of the road.

As usual, the slightest feelings of emotion betrayed me and sent tears streaming down my face. Things had gone _so_ well on the beach; why did they always need to push each others' buttons?

Edward spoke low and fast under his breath to Jake for a few minutes; I wasn't able to hear a thing. I couldn't even be sure he _was_ speaking, but that was the only thing that made sense in this scenario. He could read Jake's mind, but he had to be conveying his own opinions _somehow_.

After a few tense moments, Edward returned to the Volvo and slid into the driver's seat. "Buckle your seat belt," he instructed, turning the car around quickly and speeding back toward Forks.

"What happened?" I asked, tears finally slowing. He wrapped an arm tightly around me and pulled me close. "Why didn't he phase back?" I turned and stared at the great wolf fade into the distance out the back window as the car sped away.

"Well, he destroyed his clothes," Edward stated, as if this should've been completely obvious. In fact, it really _was_. "He didn't want to phase back to human naked in front of you. He was smart to remove his shoes first, though… I'm amazed he was able to keep his head level enough to do that."

"What happened?" I asked again, pressing the issue.

"Don't worry about it," Edward said soothingly. "It's all taken care of."

"What a crazy couple days," I sighed.

"Yes, indeed," Edward said, clearly distracted by something. "Where to now?" he asked. "Back to my house?"

"Um, well actually," I began, but my stomach growled, giving away the rest of my sentence.

"Ah, but of course," Edward agreed.

"It's just… I really should cook for Charlie, too," I explained. "I was going to eat dinner with Jake, but that never really happened."

"Say no more," Edward insisted, hitting the gas a little harder. "Charlie will probably be home soon."

When we got home, Edward watched me make Charlie's dinner, then disappeared as Charlie pulled in the driveway. He insisted he'd be running circles around the house until he heard me retire to my room. Charlie was exhausted from a long day of fishing, so he didn't talk much or ask many questions, for which I was grateful. He turned in early and I followed shortly after, returning to the comfort of my room and the boy there waiting for me.

I showered quickly and threw on jeans and a heavy sweater before crawling into bed.

"Isn't it a little early for bed?" Edward asked. "And interesting choice of sleeping attire, I might add."

"The clothes are for the meeting later," I explained. "And I really should try to get a little rest if I'm gonna stay up all night. I want to be ready when it's time to go, hence the jeans," I said. "And you _are_ taking me with you."

He sighed. "Under any other circumstances I would say absolutely not," he said seriously, "but since I'm afraid to allow you to leave my sight, I suppose you'll get what you want."

"Good," I yawned, plopping onto the bed and leaning in against his chest. "Wake me when it's time to go."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and once again as a reminder, this IS going to be making its way back to the original plot! I'm a fan of writing stuff that is BELIEVABLE, so concievably all of this could have happened in the segments between the start and end of this story. oh, and please review!! reviews make me happy.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** I am extremely sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter up. This is going to be the last chapter for this story, so please bear with me for a moment while I explain why. First and foremost, I never meant this story to last forever; from the start, it has always been my intention that this story would run back into the original plot line. While exploring a different possible path for Bella, I always knew in the back of my mind that any situation would lead her back to Edward - his delayed return to Forks was no exception to that rule. From the start, I meant for this version of events to fit nicely into the Twilight saga, that you would be able to pick this story up from the end of New Moon, and when it ended, return back to the end of Eclipse. I'm very sorry if anyone is disappointed by how I chose to write this, but in the end, it's happened just how I always expected it to.

Another reason I chose to end it here was that the story was no longer holding my interest - it took me a few weeks just to write this chapter. It was returning too much to the original plot, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it was too similar to the original story and I'd need to give it the axe - it's getting the axe here. I got to the point where I was really just rewording events that had already occurred, and this story was ready to be finished. I hope everyone has enjoyed the story, and that I'm not thought less of as a writer because of the direction I chose to go.

That being said, I already have a new story idea that I'm very excited about, and I intend to begin writing it as soon as possible. Maybe even tonight. Thanks for sticking with this story, and stay tuned for a new one real soon!

**Disclaimer**: I am not Stephenie Meyer, don't own any of the Twilight Saga.

Chapter Ten

"Bella, love," Edward's soft voice called, and he shook my shoulder lightly. I was instantly alert. "It's time to go."

I jumped to my feet immediately and began tying on my shoes. "Is this going to be horrible?" I asked.

"Is what?" Edward asked, clearly having no idea to what I was referring.

"The whole deal with Jake last night… is it going to be bad?" I braced myself for bad news.

"Well, I'm sure he's not going to be happy," Edward sighed, "but I think he'll be more annoying to me than anything. He was upset, but I really think he's going to keep fighting for you regardless."

"As long as he doesn't hate me," I mumbled.

Edward had no reply for that. "Let's go," he said after a moment, and he pulled me into his arms and leapt lightly out my window.

We flew through the forest back to that same clearing from the previous night where the rest of the Cullens were already waiting.

"Bella!" Alice cried, running over to embrace me. "I'm still _so_ happy, and I have your dress ready, and mine too, and I have a color scheme for the house and I've already designed the cake – I'll have a professional _make _it of course, but to my specifications – and I've already picked out all the music, especially since I have that recording of Edward playing your song and –"

"Alice!" I had to yell to cut her off. I was afraid that run on sentence would never end if I didn't do something soon.

"Sorry," she mumbled with a grin, "I'm just so excited."

"It's okay," I said. "One of us should be. Thing is, Jake and I _did_ end things last night, just a few hours ago really, and I think it's a little early for him to hear that I've already got wedding plans. You understand, of course?"

"Oh!" she cried. "Yes, you're right… mums the word."

"Thanks," I sighed. I still couldn't quite comprehend how I had come to be dating one person and engaged to another at the same time. The only conclusion I was able to draw was that I wasn't physically capable of turning Edward down; my reaction would have been the same whether I was single, engaged, or married for years. I shuddered at the thought; what if Edward had waited to come back, even years? If Jake never _did_ imprint, and we were married, maybe even with kids! If Edward had come running back into the picture then, would I have broken up everything I had to be with him? I wanted to say no, but deep down I knew what the answer would really be; it made me feel terrible.

"They _are_ coming, right?" Jasper asked, eyes roving impatiently around the field.

"When I said goodbye to Jake, he _said_ he'd be here," I said with a shrug.

"Okay, we'll wait another minute and get started then," Jasper said.

A few minutes later, all eyes turned east; a minute later, ten giant wolves made their way into the clearing. It would always shock me, no matter how much time I spent down at La Push, to see these huge creatures emerge from the woods. They still frightened me a little, even though I knew these were my friends.

They moved just out of the woods and stopped, leaving a considerable distance between themselves and the Cullens.

"We would prefer to stay in this form," Edward said to Carlisle, speaking for Sam. "As he is doing right now, your son can translate for us."

"That's perfectly fine," Carlisle assured him. "Now as we mentioned before, Jasper's history has given us some insight on what we can expect from these newborn vampires."

"Right," Jasper said, stepping forward so that he stood behind his family, facing everyone at the same time. Edward and I stood at the far end of the grouping, and it seemed like Edward had done this intentionally, to put as much space between Jacob and I as possible. Jake stood at Sam's right hand, near the center of the group. I kept casting uncomfortable glances at him, dying to know what he was thinking. He seemed to be looking at me quite often too; I wanted to ask Edward about his thoughts, but I didn't know if the wolves would be able to hear me, too.

"If I whisper, will the wolves be able to hear me?" I mouthed to Edward, assuming that lip-reading was one of the indefinite number of skills he seemed to possess. He looked at me strangely for a moment, and then nodded.

"Is Jake upset?" I mouthed again.

Edward turned his head to glare at Jake for a moment, then turned back to me and mouthed, "I wish."

I gave him a quizzical look, to which he mouthed, "he's definitely not fighting fair."

I looked past Edward to Jake once more, but of course I was unable to decipher anything about his thoughts; I might as well be staring at a tree for all the information I was getting. I sighed and turned back to Jasper.

"Now, Emmett's the best example of a newborn attack," Jasper was explaining. Shoot, I had missed all the details in the middle; fortunately, Edward probably knew them as well as Jasper did. Emmett scowled; he uprooted a nearby tree and threw it at Jasper.

"Emmett," Carlisle said warningly, as the wolves behind us had all begun to shift – to me, it seemed uncomfortably – and whine at Emmett's display of strength.

"Cool it," Edward said to him harshly, seeming to confirm the thoughts in Carlisle's head.

"I only mean that Emmett relies mainly on his strength when he is attacking; strategy isn't necessary for him when brute force can get the job done. Plus, he thinks it's more fun," Jasper added with a chuckle. Emmett crossed his arms across his chest and gave a sharp nod. "If we could demonstrate…?" Jasper asked, looking toward Emmett. He nodded again and stepped forward into the center of the clearing with Jasper.

Even knowing they weren't really going to hurt each other, watching them fight was… difficult. I stared down at the ground, but just hearing the snarls and crashing sounds without a visual made it so much worse.

"Do you need me to take you home?" Edward asked quietly, concerned.

"No, I'm fine," I lied. I didn't need a mirror to tell me that my face was either a vicious shade of green, or a ghostly pale.

"Really now, Bella," he stressed, voice full of concern, "there's no need to be a hero. I'll take you home."

"No," I said, a little louder this time. "I'll be okay, I swear… I _want_ to stay."

"Fine," Edward said, disapproval coloring his tone. "But if you get any paler, I'm taking you straight home."

"I'll be okay," I promised, reaching up and placing my hand on his cheek. "I'm a tough girl."

"Yes, you are," he agreed, unintentionally dazzling me with the intensity of his eyes. He wrapped both arms around me, placing one on the small of my back and pulling me closer. I tilted my head up and he kissed me softly, but pulled away much too quickly. "Breathe, love," he reminded me with a laugh.

I sucked in a gasping breath; I couldn't even remember how long I'd been holding it. "You've got to stop doing that," I muttered.

Suddenly, I heard an unbelievably low warning growl issue from somewhere behind us. I turned and my eyes locked with Jacob's for a moment, and I felt a wave of guilt.

"What's he thinking?" I asked Edward, embarrassed.

"Nothing pleasant," he muttered. "My turn."

I turned back to Jasper. I had missed his entire fight with Emmett; I could only tell who had won by the look on Emmett's face. He was clearly dying for a rematch. He strode over to stand beside me while Edward fought, using my shoulder as an armrest. Surprisingly, he put no pressure on my shoulder; knowing Emmett, I had expected a little force as a joke, and actually probably way too much force because he wouldn't know his own strength.

"Thanks for not pushing me into the ground," I muttered, never taking my eyes off the fight between Edward and Jasper; Edward clearly had the upper hand, but that did nothing to alleviate my stress.

"Ha… you know Edward would murder me if so much as a hair on your head was out of place," he laughed in response.

"Yes I would," Edward chuckled, not even slightly distracted from the fight by our conversation.

I was driving myself crazy, and I was fully aware of it, but I couldn't help but keep casting my eyes in Jake's direction. I felt so guilty I could barely stand it, but I knew nothing would change my mind. I wondered whether his cocky attempts to win me back would make me feel guilty, or just solidify my choice in my mind.

After his fight with Jasper, Edward returned to my side and took Emmett's place. "Bella, love," he began, studying my face, but I cut him off.

"I don't care if I look pale," I moaned, locking eyes with him. "I need to be here. Please."

Something he saw in my eyes wouldn't allow him to say no. "Okay," he gave in with a sigh. "I suppose when you pass out, I'll just carry you home." His tone sounded annoyed, but a smile played across his lips.

"Sounds good," I agreed.

We watched the rest of the fighting. My eyes, not being as infallible as Edward's, were barely able to comprehend the scene before me. I turned to watch Edward's face instead. I saw glints of different emotions in his eyes sometimes, but his face gave nothing away; it was smooth and unchanging through the duration of the lesson.

"We'll be coming back again tomorrow," Jasper announced to the wolves as he brought the meeting to its conclusion. "If you want to come watch again, you're welcome to."

"They'd like to become more familiar with each of our scents," Edward said warily. "They would hate to have an accident during the fight. They ask that we spread ourselves out and stay very still, allowing them to walk among us and familiarize themselves with each of our scents."

Carlisle was the only one who looked completely at ease with this idea, and agreed at once. Esme and Alice looked unsure, Rosalie looked annoyed, Jasper and Emmett looked concerned for Alice and Rosalie respectively, and Edward kept casting glances at me; he was clearly not a fan of them coming so close to me in their wolf forms. His family slowly, cautiously, spread themselves out in a wide line across the field – Edward held me close at one end of the line, his arm wrapped tightly around my waist.

"Is that really necessary?" he spat harshly at the wolves. Everyone looked as confused as I felt. "It won't make a difference." He stared at the wolves for a moment, his mind conflicted. "Fine," he finally agreed, "but make it _fast_."

He dropped his arm from my waist and stepped about ten feet to the side. I could tell it was painful for him, putting such a large distance between us and leaving me so vulnerable, even though he could cross that distance in a millisecond and I'd be safe again.

"They want our distinct scents," Edward explained vehemently. "They don't want our two scents mixed together, in the event that it might confuse them later."

"That sounds reasonable," I said quietly, sure that Edward was not feeling the same way. The wolves wound their way slowly through our group, stopping at each of us and taking our scents in. Some of the younger wolves seemed anxious to be standing in such close proximity to the vampires, but none of the Cullens – aside from Edward, of course – showed any signs of emotion.

Eventually, Jacob made his way to me. "I'm sorry," I whispered, even though I knew every being in the field – both terms "living thing" and "person" didn't seem appropriate to me, in given company – could hear every word. He rolled his eyes at me. "It's a pretty pathetic response given what I've done, I know, but I don't know what else I can say."

He stared hard at me for a long moment, not even blinking. It was extremely intimidating. "Jake?" I asked uncertainly. Then, without warning, Jake planted a giant, sloppy lick on me, running from my neck up to my hair line.

"Oh ew, Jake, gross!" I complained, wiping my face off on my sleeve. "What'd you lick me for?"

"His wolf equivalent of a kiss," Edward said coldly.

"Jake!" I scolded, and smacked him as hard as I could across his muzzle. This drew an unexpected, ferocious response from the wolves. They all turned on me, and began to close in; well, all of them except for Sam. Edward was at my side in an instant, and Jake appeared to be trying to force his brothers back.

"She barely weighs 100 pounds, how could she possibly hurt him?" Edward asked, and I imagined his voice might've contained a bit of humor, if he weren't so worried about the proximity of the wolves. "Sam, can't you order them back?" he complained.

Moments later, the wolves all began to back away, except for Jacob, who maintained his posture right in front of me. His expression appeared amused, but I could detect a hint of the sadness he was trying hard not to show underneath.

"Would you like _me_ to smacking him?" Edward asked coldly. "I promise I'll do a little more damage than you did."

"No, that's not necessary," I said, "let's just go home."

Jacob took off running into the woods without a backward glance. For some reason it made me sad, maybe because of the hurt I had read in his eyes moments before.

"Does he hate me?" I asked Edward. I felt terrible about the fact that he had to see me upset over Jake. He was much too wonderful to deserve the things I had put him through; he had already been through so much on his own already.

"Quite the contrary," Edward assured me, eyes on the trees. I followed his gaze to see Jake walking back out in human form.

"Give us a minute," he said to Edward, striding toward me. Edward narrowed his eyes and turned to me.

"Two seconds," I promised, and walked toward Jake.

"I'll be back in one minute," Edward promised, running off into the woods. There was no doubt in my mind that he'd be back in one minute, to the second.

"Yes?" I asked, turning toward Jake.

"Well, since he's only giving me one minute," Jake scowled, "I'll make this quick. Can you disregard everything I've said to you since the moment I said it was okay that you were letting me go? It's not okay… not at all. Allowing you to walk away was the biggest mistake I've ever made, and I need to make it right. Please Bella, honey; you know you belong with me."

"Jake, I…" I had no idea what to say. This outburst blindsided me; perhaps I _should_ have seen it coming, but I didn't.

"Look, we've already been over all of the reasons I'm so much better for you. I'm sure he realizes it himself." Jake was pleading now. "Please, just … _see_ it. Realize it yourself. Come back to me." His voice cracked on the last sentence and he cast his eyes to the ground.

"Jake," I tried again, but words failed me.

"Are you ready to go home?" Edward asked; he had appeared beside me so suddenly and silently that I jumped. He chuckled softly and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Yeah, I am," I agreed. I allowed him to steer me toward the edge of the trees, but then I was overcome with pity, and forced myself to stop. I looked back over my shoulder at Jake, eyes still following me hopefully. "I'm sorry," I said with a slight shrug. Those words would never do, but they were all I could bring myself to say. Sincerity saturating every word, there was no way he could possibly misinterpret my meaning.

His eyes looked ready to brim over at any second, and he stared down at the ground, shoulders slumped. I couldn't bear to see him that way; I forced myself to look back to Edward. "Let's go," I whispered, searching to find my voice once more. He nodded, threw me onto his back, and ran me home.

Back at Charlie's house, I could see that the sun was ready to rise at any moment. "He'll be getting up soon," Edward said, reading my face.

"Will he hear me if I go to the bathroom?" I asked quietly once Edward had jumped us back up into my room.

"Probably… and he'll question your attire if he does." Edward replied.

"Okay, well I'll have to change in here. Turn around then," I teased, sticking my tongue out.

"I'll just pop outside for a moment," he said and was gone before I could reply.

I changed into my pajamas and ran back to the window. "Edward?" I whispered out the window.

"He's going to check on you any minute, so pretend to be asleep. I'll come back in once he's gone downstairs," Edward promised from below. I nodded and hopped into bed, pulling the covers up tight to my neck.

Sure enough, I heard the creak of my door and saw a thin strip of light from the hallway on the floor. I tried to make my breathing as even as possible, even though Edward had already ruled out actress as a possible career choice for me long ago. What was probably only seconds felt like hours as I tried to feign sleep for Charlie. Eventually he withdrew from the doorway and went downstairs, and Edward was back beside me in a flash.

"He's in a hurry," he whispered. "He'll be gone within five minutes… there was a death relatively close to the county line. Not within Charlie's jurisdiction, but he wants to see what he can do to help, so he's going to head over and get started early."

"Does that mean he's going to be wandering around with all those newborns out there? I wish he'd _not_ play the hero once in a while," I sighed.

"If it makes you feel better, I can call Alice and ask her about his future," Edward offered, wrapping his arms around me and kissing me lightly on the forehead.

"It would, thanks," I agreed, snuggling against his chest and stifling a yawn.

"Get some sleep," he encouraged, "you must be exhausted."

"Not till you've got an answer for me," I countered, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out his phone for him. I held down the #2, knowing that's where he kept Alice on his speed dial, and held the phone up to his ear.

He had a brief, rushed conversation with Alice before snapping the phone shut and setting it on my bedside table. "He's going to be perfectly fine," he promised pulling me close once more. "Now get some sleep, you were up most of the night, and I can tell you're exhausted."

"Yeah, yeah," I agreed, reminding myself of Jake. I snuggled up against Edward, pulled the covers tightly around me, and was asleep within seconds.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The end. Except not really. Ideally, at this point, you would continue reading about the fight with the newborns in Eclipse. My story is written in such a way that Jacob should still be getting a shock by learning of their engagement, running away, etc. Once you finish that part of Eclipse, if you like my writing (and haven't disowned me for the way I chose to end this story) you could head over and read "Breaking Dawn, My Way," to see more of my stuff, or stay tuned for a new story coming VERY soon! I just need to figure out a title for it - always the hardest part of stories for me.

Thanks for sticking with it, and please review! :)


End file.
